Between Inked Lines
by Love Ink
Summary: Set before TFATF. Vince walked into the shop wanting a tattoo and left with something more. Can he keep it or will someone come between him and one thing he loves most?
1. Nicknames and Dragons

Hey! This is my first TFATF fic!! It's set before TFATF!! I hope you like it and please review, it makes me happy!! lol!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing...but I wouldn't mind owning Vince...

**Chapter 1: Colors**

by: She Smiles Like She's So Tough

Vince eyed the tattoo shop anxiously. It was a small place with huge windows and a neon sign that announced "Yes, We're Open" next to one which proudly shone the store's name, "All Inked Up," in bright red letters. His buddy Chris owned the shop and had been pestering him about coming in for another tattoo for ages. The guy had already given him the Native American style eagle on his left arm and thought he should do something on his right to even it up. Leon and Letty stood by his side, there to give him some moral support, they had said. He knew Leon just wanted to see him wuss out of it. "Are we going in anytime soon?" Leon questioned, his eyebrows raised at his best friend.

Letty hit him and put a comforting hand on Vince's shoulder. "You know you don't have to, V. Tattoos hurt like a bitch. Doesn't make you any less of a man if you don't want to get one. Hell, Dom is too scared to get one."

Vince chuckled, putting an arm around Letty before pulling her close and placing a kiss on her forehead. "Let, I love you, girl. You know that?" She nodded in response. He sucked in a breath before taking a step toward the door, opening it slowly.

"Vincent Petrelli! I never thought I'd see you come into my shop again!" a loud, gritty voice called through the shop. Chris stood from his station where he was tinkering with his machine. He was a skinny guy covered in tattoos. There was barely a blank space on his tan skin apart from his face. "You here for a tat?"

"You know it," Vince said as the two friends did a man-hug. "You remember Letty, don't you?" Chris nodded his greeting at Letty who smiled in return. "And this is the new guy, Leon."

Chris shook hands with Leon, eyeing the tattooed Native American head on his shoulder. "Nice to meet you, Leon. You getting something today too?"

Leon shook his head, no. "Some other time."

"Your loss," Chris said, shrugging. "What do you want to get, Vince?"

Vince sighed and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. "I was looking to get some kind of dragon on my upper arm."

Chris was about to open his mouth when another voice spoke for him. "Too bad C.J. sucks at dragons." Vince's eyes were drawn to where a young girl was sitting at a tattoo station wiping down a man's arm on which she had tattooed a brilliant purple snake. "There you go, Adam. I still don't get why it's purple, but I hope you like it."

Adam walked over to the mirror and Vince watched as his mouth dropped open. "Oh my God! This is amazing! It's just what I pictured!" He turned to look at the girl and wrapped her in a hug. "Thank you!"

"No problem," she said, putting some clear wrap and tape over the tattoo to keep in protected. "Just remember what I told you and take care of it."

Once Adam had paid and left the shop, Vince turned to Chris with his eyebrows raised. "Who's she?"

"I'm the new girl," the girl put in for him. "He hired me because he was tired of turning down people who wanted Asian art," she said with a proud smirk. The girl's dark brown hair was streaked with a dark magenta color which contrasted with her tan skin. Her dark green eyes shone with a teasing light when she laughed at Chris's glare. "What? It's true, isn't it?"

Chris sighed and nodded. "This is Carlina Estrada. Carly, this is Vince, Letty, and Leon. Vince is a friend of mine from high school."

"Nice to meet you all. You guys can call me Carly," she said shaking each of their hands in turn. Vince looked at the quarter sleeve of intricate tattoos she had on both arms. The tattoos were colorful and bright, each no doubt had a meaning behind them. Her bright green tank top was low cut in the front and revealed a slice of her tone stomach which was decorated with a tattoo or two as well.

Vince cleared his throat, drawing attention to himself. "As much as I like talkin' to ya, Chris. I _did_ come here for a tattoo." He gave the image to Chris and chuckled when Carly stood on her tip toes to look at it over his shoulder.

"There's no way in hell you can do that dragon right, Chris," Carly said, giggling softly when Chris scowled.

"I've been tattooing a hell of a lot longer than you have, Carly," he said, his tone defensive. "I can do pretty much everything."

Carly rolled her eyes and took the picture from Chris's hand. "I don't doubt that you can," she said slowly, trying her best to find words that wouldn't offend her boss. "But we both know I can do dragons a hell of a lot better than you and you can kick my ass at black and white portraits and pretty much everything else."

Chris smiled and wrapped a brotherly arm around Carly's shoulders. "You bet I can. It's up to you, Vince. Who do you want?"

"I want her to do my tattoo," Vince said quickly, pointing and smiling at the pretty tattoo artist.

"Why am I not surprised?" Chris mumbled under his breath. He knew Carly was a very attractive girl and had no doubts that her artistic ability was not the reason he had picked her over him.

She smiled triumphantly. "Go ahead and sit down. I'll freehand it on you." Vince gave her a skeptical look. She dismissed it with a wave of her hand. "It's the only way I can make it flow with your arm. Don't worry about it, Vinny, I'm the best at what I do."

In the past when people had called him 'Vinny,' Vince would smash their face in or correct them with a growl, but for some reason, he couldn't help but find the way Carly said the name endearing and cute. It was obvious she hadn't meant it as an insult, and he couldn't help wishing she would call him that again. "If you're sure," he said, sitting down at her station.

She began working at once, her green eyes focused intently on his muscular upper arm. He loved the way the pen gracefully slid across his skin as she made gentle strokes in different colors. The dragon she drew was amazing. Even better were the waves and designs she was drawing around the dragon. Her green eyes met his blue ones a few minutes later and he felt his breath hitch in his throat at the brilliant amber flecks sprinkled throughout her green eyes. She smiled at him and his heart lurched in his chest. What was wrong with him? This was just another girl like all the other nameless girls he met on a daily basis. Why was Carly any different? "I'm done sketching. Check it out and tell me if you like it," Carly urged, pointing out the full length mirror across the way.

He did as he was told and was more than happy with the outcome. Letty looked it over, her brown eyes registering awe as she gazed at the complicated sketch on her best friend's arm. "Damn, V. That's a sweet piece of work right there," she commented. "Makes me want to get one."

"I can do yours after his," Carly said, a knowing smile crossing her face. She knew Letty would say no before the words left her mouth.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Letty said on a sigh. Ever since she was little and she had to poke her mother's finger to test her blood sugar, she hated needles and she was pretty sure getting a tattoo would do nothing to quell her fear.

Vince sat down again and watched as Carly prepared the various ink colors and took the needles she'd be using out of their packaging. He leaned closer to her ear before whispering, "Let is scared of needles. That's why she doesn't want a tattoo. It has nothing to do with you."

Carly gave him an understanding smile. "Thanks. Are you ready for this? You need someone to hold your hand or a lollipop or something?"

"I'll take a lollipop," Leon said, sitting down on a spinning chair close by.

"Do you want to get a tattoo today?" she questioned, a smirk on her face.

"No, I'm not in the mood to be tortured," he answered, a confused look playing across his face.

"Then no lollipop for you, you pussy."

Vince roared with laughter at the look on Leon's face. He couldn't believe Carly said that! It was rare to find a girl who could resist Leon's charms let alone make fun of him! "I'll take one, I guess," Vince said, trying to calm down.

Carly unwrapped a blue one and held it out towards his mouth. "Open up and say 'ah.'"

"Ah." Vince had barely said it when the lollipop was shoved into his mouth and the tattoo machine started whirring. The needles dug into his skin painfully and he resisted the urge to let out a slew of cuss words.

After and hour or two, Carly could see the pain etched on Vince's face. She knew for a fact that getting a tattoo that large was no fun. Stretching her arms over her head, she let out a fake yawn. "I'm kind of tired, V. I have the outline done, do you want to come in again tomorrow, and I'll finish it off?" She knew she could've easily finished the tattoo before closing time, but she didn't want this to be the last time she saw the built, gorgeous man so she decided to give him the option of coming back later.

Vince could tell Carly wasn't tired in the least and that the tattoo could be finished if he wanted to sit it out. His arm was throbbing painfully though, and he'd rather not show just how much it hurt with Leon sitting right next to him. He gave her a grateful smile and nodded. "Sounds like a plan, CC. Thanks."

"No, thank you! You were my last appointment of the day. Now, I'm off early," she said with a cheeky grin.

Leon smirked, his trademark, panty-dropping smirk and Vince couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Carly was sure to fall for the skinnier man. It seemed Leon, with his easy-going attitude, would be more her type than he would be. "Since you're off so early, how bout I take you to dinner, Gorgeous?"

"Sorry, but I promised Pierre I'd be home for dinner," Carly answered, a mischievous glint in her green eyes.

"Figures a beautiful girl like you has already got someone to go home to," Leon shot back, his smirk still in place on his face.

Letty hit his arm playfully. "Go bring the car around, Lee." Leon scowled at her but walked out of the shop anyway but not before winking at Carly. Once he was gone, Letty eyed Carly, laughter in her dark eyes. "Why do I get the feeling Pierre doesn't exist?"

"Oh, he exists all right," Carly said, a smile on her face. "He's my cat."

Vince and Letty both bursted out laughing, both in love with their new friend. "Girl, you should come to our barbeque tonight! The rest of the team would love you!" Letty said, wiping tears from her eyes.

Carly shook her head. "As fun as that sounds, I have an early day at work tomorrow. Plus, I really do have to feed Pierre. I forgot to this morning." Her face flushed with guilt, something Vince found to be the most adorable thing he'd ever seen. _Adorable?_ He thought to himself. _Since when do I think things are adorable? _"But I will see _you_," she pointed at Vince, "tomorrow."

Vince smiled looking at his taped up arm. "Looking forward to it. I promise I won't bring the moron next time. Sorry if he bothered you." Again, Vince had to marvel at the way he was acting. He had never apologized to anyone for Leon's bold moves. Not even when they were made on his own cousin when she had visited a few month back! Yet here he was sincerely apologizing to this beautiful girl he had just met.

"Don't worry about it," Carly said with a bright smile.

"Well, bye, CC," he said, following Letty out the door.

"Bye, Vinny," she called after him, watching his fine rear end as it disappeared from sight.

Like it? Please review! I already have the next chapter ready so I'll put it up when I get some reviews that tell me people are actually reading it!!


	2. Pain and Taking Chances

Thanks so much for all the reviews!!! They are greatly appreciated and help me to write faster (hint hint) )

here's the next chapter! I hope you like it!!!

DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely nothing which sucks because I would not mind owning Vince

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**Between Inked Lines**

_Chapter 2: Pain and Taking Chances_

by: Love Ink

Dominic smirked when he saw Vince walking up the front door steps with a scowl on his face as he rubbed his bandaged arm. Letty was walking behind him, annoyance written all over her face. It seemed like she was making sure Leon and Vince stayed away from each other. From the pained look on Leon's face, Dominic knew his assumption was correct. Leon had obviously said or done something to piss Vince off and Letty was left to keep the peace. Vince stalked past Dominic without so much as a 'hello.' The bald man caught Letty's eyes, ready for an explanation. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, taking out the low ponytail and re-doing it. "Leon was talking about the hot new tattoo artist and Vince got mad and punched him in the arm, so Leon of course hit him back, which was a bad move because he just happened to hit V's newly tattooed arm." Dom couldn't help the laugh that escaped his lips at the boys' antics. Letty glared at him but began to laugh with him despite herself. "I've never heard Vince yell so loud before."

"I told him the tattoo was a bad idea," Dom said, still laughing. Leon walked into the house, rubbing his own arm and muttering to himself about girls and tattoos. Letty stopped laughing, her face uncertain. "What's that face for?"

She threw herself onto the couch with a sigh. Dominic sat down next to her, a worried look in his dark eyes. "It was just weird that they were fighting over a girl, you know? I mean, Vince was in a fine mood until Leon decided to make one of his crude comments about her, so he hit him. It wasn't just a light hit either, Dom, Vince meant to hurt him."

"Those two fight over girls all the time, Let. I'm sure this time is no different," Dom said, trying to make sense of what Letty was talking about.

Letty looked unsure. "Maybe, but this girl is pretty damn cool. I actually liked her," she admitted. It was rare for Letty to like any girl upon first meeting them. She always had her guard up when it came to meeting other females since, to her, every girl wanted her man. But Dom didn't seem to be even close to Carly's type, so she was fine letting her guard down.

"Well, did she like either of them?"

She thought for a moment before shrugged. "She turned Leon down when he asked her out to dinner. Told him she had a date with some guy named Pierre which turned out to be her cat. I don't know about V, though. There was something in the way she looked at him, but I don't know. I'm not good at this stuff."

Dominic chuckled and kissed her temple. "I know, baby. I'll go see what's up." He headed down the basement stairs. Once he reached Vince's room, he found his friend to be looking at the new ink on his arm in the mirror, his head tilted sideways in thought. "Looks good, V."

Vince wasn't at all startled by hearing Dominic's voice. He didn't even turn, just looked at him in the mirror. "Thanks, man. It was feeling fine until Leon decided to use it as a punching bag," he ground out between clenched teeth.

"Letty said it was over some girl. That true?" Dominic questioned, sitting on Vince's bed.

This caught Vince's attention. He turned to look at Dom, his eyebrows raised in surprise. "He was being disrespectful. Was saying all kinds of dirty shit about her, so I smacked him to get him to shut up."

"He says shit like that all the time, and you don't do anything. Why was this time any different?"

"Because she doesn't deserve to be talked to like that. She's not some dumb racer slut, Dom. Carly's better than that," he said, his words almost tender. Dom couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. If he wasn't mistaken, it seemed like Vince had some feelings for the tattoo girl. "What are you grinnin' about, ass face?" Vince growled.

Dominic chuckled and shook his head. "You like her, don't you? You have feelings for her that don't involve a quick lay. You want a relationship with this girl, don't you?"

Vince clenched and unclenched his fists, frustrated. He ran a hand through his hair trying to find some lie he could tell Dominic to dissuade him, but he knew the bald man would catch his lie. "I don't know, God damn it! I've only met her today! How the hell am I supposed to know if I have _feelings_ for her? All I know is that I don't like it when Leon talks about her like she's a piece of meat!" he yelled, his blue eyes passionate.

"You gonna see her again?" Dominic questioned, not even flinching at Vince's outburst, he was used to them by now.

"Tomorrow. She's got to finish this thing," he said, gesturing to his arm. "I mean, it looks good in black and white; think of what it'll look like in color. I can't wait to get it finished."

Dom laughed, shaking his head at his best friend. "Can't wait to get the tattoo finished or can't wait to see the girl again?"

"A little of both," Vince answered with an honest smile. "She really_is_ gorgeous, Dominic. I doubt she'll even be interested in me."

"Don't doubt yourself so much, Vince. It's unattractive," Letty said from the doorway. In her hand was the house phone whose mouth piece she was covering with her thumb. "It's for you, Dom."

Dom took the phone from her, placed a kiss on her cheek, and headed out of the room. Letty watched him before turning back to Vince. "Just so you know, V, Carly seemed to like you a hell of a lot more than she liked Leon."

"That's not saying much," Vince muttered under his breath.

Letty laughed and wondered just how much Vince liked the girl. Was Carly going to be the one to finally tie the Coyote down for good? She rolled her eyes at the thought. _Not with him still mooning after Mia_, she thought to herself; yet she hoped she was wrong. She hoped Vince would realize Mia wasn't worth the trouble and settle down with a girl, preferably Carly. But Letty was getting ahead of herself, Vince and Carly hadn't even become an item yet. "It's saying a lot. Don't be afraid to make a move. Chances are, she might like it."

"And if she doesn't?"

"What do you got to lose, V? It's not like she's someone who we'll be seeing a lot of anyway. If she doesn't like you, then you'll probably never see her again," Letty said, an encouraging smile spread across her face.

While Vince paused to think about Letty's words, Letty disappeared back into the house. He sat down on his bed, staring at the reflection of his new tattoo in the mirror. He smiled to himself. "I got nothing to lose."

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Like it? Please review! I'm pretty much done with the next chapter so the quicker you review, the fast I'll put up a the new one!!! D

Thanks for reading!


	3. Filling in the Lines and Space

Hey readers!! Thank you so much for reviewing! I love you all!!

This chapter (as well as most of this story) was inspired by watching way too much Miami Ink! (It's one of my favorite shows). It's also wear I get a lot of tattoo information from so if any of the technical aspects are wrong, I apologize ahead of time. I'm doing my best here, but I'm not a tattoo artist (but that would be awesome but I suck at art so...) so all the info comes from the show and some websites! If anything is really bothersome, so much so that it makes the story hard to read, let me know and I'll fix it. D

Enjoy and please review!! D

Love Ink

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OCs!

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**Between Inked Lines**

Chapter 3: Filling in the Lines and Space

by Love Ink

Vince headed up to the front of the shop, his heart pounding nervously. He spotted Carly through the large glass windows and took his time looking at her. She was laughing with Chris, her green eyes looking up at the older man as though he was her idol. Vince couldn't help but wish she'd look at him like that. Like he was the only one she could see. Her eyes caught his through the window and she waved, a bright smile spreading across her face. "Hey Vinny!" she said, once he was finally in the shop. "Ready to finish the dragon?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "As ready as I'll ever be."

She laughed before heading back to her station and gesturing to the chair. "Sit. I got everything ready so we can start." He obeyed and was happy when she scooted her chair closer to him. "This might hurt a little more than last time," she said just as the machine started whirring.

"I find that hard to believe," he mumbled under his breath. The needles hit his skin and he swore. "All right now I believe you."

Chuckling, she swiped off the excess color before turning to put more color on the needle. As she did this, she felt his fingertips slowly brushing across her thigh. Shivers ran down her spine and she swallowed thickly before going back to work. He watched her work and couldn't help but think she looked sexy while doing it. The corner of her lip was caught between her teeth and her eyes never left his arm. Her focus was intense but the way she moved made it seem like she had been doing it for years. "When did you start tattooing?" he asked.

She looked up at him, surprised by his question. Usually her clients talked about themselves rather than ask about her life. "I started when I was thirteen," she said, her eyes going back to the task at hand. At his surprised look, she continued her story, "My uncle owned a shop down in Florida. He was like a father to me so he always let me hang around there. When I was ten, he started teaching me how to do things so by the time I was thirteen, he was letting me do simple things like Kanji signs and hearts."

"People would let you tattoo them?" Vince asked in amazement. "I would never let a thirteen-year-old near me with a tattoo gun."

Carly laughed and nodded. "Yeah, most of the tourist didn't, but my uncle's hardcore friends let me. They spread the word so by the time I was fifteen I had my fair share of clients. People in Miami are crazy, but that's why I love that place."

"What brought you to LA then?" Vince questioned, catching her eye while she wiped the tattoo off.

"Chris did," she said simply while she changed colors. "He apprenticed with my uncle for awhile, so I decided to do him a favor and come down temporarily to help out."

Vince felt his heart sink in his chest. She was there temporarily. If what he wanted was a relationship, there was no way in hell it'd happen if she was there "temporarily." "How long is that?"

"Until I want to go home," she stated with a smug smile, "but I like LA so I'll probably be around for a few months if not years. So what do you do?" Carly didn't really like talking about her life in Miami, so she was glad to turn the conversation to his life. She watched as a proud smile made its way onto Vince's face. Whatever it was he did, he took great pride in it, she observed. It was rare a person loved their job as much as Vince obviously did, and she loved finding guys as passionate about their jobs as she was about hers.

"I'm a mechanic," he said, his blue eyes shining with happiness. Her heart skipped a beat when their eyes met yet again.

"Let me guess, you're a racer," she said, her voice unsurprised.

Vince chuckled, running his free hand through his hair. "You could say that. I haven't raced in awhile though. My friend, Dominic's, the king of the streets, so me and the rest of the team don't get to race very often. You race?"

Carly shook her head and giggled as though the mere thought of her racing was hilarious. "Definitely not. I drive an old Honda del Sol that's about to die on me at any minute. The only good thing about that car is that it's a gorgeous apple green color. But I _have_ seen your type around. You think you're all macho because of your super tuned car and the barely dressed girls who swoon every time you pass in their direction." She rolled her eyes. "It's not my scene."

"Why is that not your scene?" Vince asked on a laugh. He wasn't even going to try to defend himself, she had him and all the other racers pegged.

She gave him a sexy smirk, stopping her work to meet his eyes. "I don't swoon. Especially if its for some guy who thinks he's God's gift to the world because his car can go over the speed limit faster than some other guy's."

"And you think I'm like that?" Vince wondered if Letty was wrong and Carly really wasn't interested in him. She didn't seem to think very highly of racers.

"No, I don't," she said honestly with a smile. "Because for some reason, Vinny, you seem different than all those other racer types. I don't know why."

Vince grinned, his heartbeat kicking up just a notch. "To tell you the truth, I love music more than I love cars." He shocked himself with his admission. He had never told anyone that. The only people who knew he played guitar were Dom and Letty and that was because they grew up with him. Mia wasn't around him enough to know.

"Now there's something we have in common," she stated, her smile growing bigger. "Do you play?"

"I play guitar," he stated proudly while nodding his head enthusiastically.

Wiping down the finished tattoo, her eyes lit up with excitement. "Really? I taught myself how to play, but I'm not very good. I should probably get lessons or something."

Vince shook his head. "Why would you pay for lessons when I can teach you?" he asked like her idea was one of the stupidest things he heard in his life. "You don't even have to pay me."

"Seriously?" Carly green eyes were glittering like emeralds and the smile on her face was priceless. "That'd be awesome!"

"Well, let me take you out to lunch today and I'll see what I can do," he said, a hopeful smile on his face. It took all his self-restraint not to grab her and kiss her; she looked so gorgeous.

"Sounds like a plan." She finished wiping the tattoo and grinned proudly. "My finest work yet, check it out in the mirror while I clean up."

He could see the dragon perfectly without the mirror. His jaw dropped when he noted all the different colors and the attention to detail Carly had put into his tattoo. "This is the most amazing tattoo I've ever seen," he said, getting closer to the mirror. "I can't believe you did this free hand."

"I'm glad you like it," she said, beginning to bandage it up. "Now you know all the care rules right? Don't go in the sun--"

"And try to keep water off it," Vince finished, loving the way her fingers felt against his arm as she taped the bandage on. "I know. You ready to go?"

"Yeah, let me tell Chris," she said before walking to the back of the shop where Chris was in the office. Vince chuckled when he saw her ponytail bounced behind her as she walked. Five minute later, she reappeared with a smirk on her face. "He says it's fine as long as you come back and let him take pictures to put in the book when your dragon is all healed. Which is a bummer because when people start seeing that, I'm going to have a to do a hell of a lot more dragons and none will every be as good as that one right there." She pointed to his arm with a confident smile on her face.

Vince laughed while he nodded his head. "I'll stop by when its all healed up and do some modeling. If you're lucky, I might even give you an autograph."

"Is that so? I might just have to frame it and put it up on that wall right there," Carly joked, pointing to the small space of wall above her station.

"Good, keep the space open for me, you can make a little shrine," he teased back as he held the door open for her.

"Vinny, they'll always be space for you here."

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The next chapter is almost finished and coming your way soon...reviewing makes me write a little fast through...hint hint 


	4. Serial Killers and Something Else

Hey readers!! Thank you so much for taking time to read this story and for reviewing! Sorry for no updating sooner! I've been sooo busy!! D

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OCs!

Thanks again!

3

Love Ink

Here it is...

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**Chapter Four: Serial Killers and Something Else **

**By: LoveInk **

Carly followed Vince out to his car. She had to walk a little faster than usual to keep up with his long strides. "You all right back there?" he questioned over his shoulder. She wasn't that far behind him, but he felt some teasing was needed.

"Hey, I'm keeping up! If you didn't take such long strides this would be a hell of a lot easier!" she shot back at him, taking a few exaggeratedly long steps toward him. He unlocked the door and held it open for her. She smiled at him, slightly surprised by the chivalrous move. "I didn't take you for the opening doors kind of guy, she stated bluntly as she got into the car."

He opened his own door and sat down in the drivers seat. "My mama taught me manners. Every once and a while I remember them."

"Every once in a while, huh?" Carly repeated with a light laugh. He turned the key and the car sprung to life with a roar. Vince looked over at Carly before tearing out of the parking lot. She looked mildly startled at his wild driving. "You're not some psycho killer, are you?"

"Shouldn't you have asked that _before_ you got into the car with me?" Vince asked, his eyebrows raised.

Carly shrugged. "Probably. Chris seemed to like you though, so I got the general feeling you weren't a serial killer, _but_ I thought I'd ask you and make sure."

Vince chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. "Do you really think a serial killer would tell you that he was a serial killer?"

"Are you trying to tell me something, Vinnie? Do you have an axe in the back seat to chop me up into itty bitty pieces?"

Vince snorted, his lips pressed tightly together in an effort to hide a smile. "You've got a twisted mind."

"Do not! I'm just looking out for myself," Carly defended, the corners of her lips lifted in a small smile. "Where are we going anyways?"

"Somewhere I can hide your body easily," he shot back giving her a sly smile.

She hit his arm. "That is _not_ funny!" He pulled up to a brightly colored restaurant. "Cha Cha Cha's. Spanish food?" Carly questioned as she read the sign.

"Cuban," he grunted, getting out of the car and opening her door for her. She sat in the seat stunned yet again by his gallant act. "You coming or are you going to sit in the car all day?"

Carly rolled her eyes and got out of the car, following him into the restaurant. Once inside, her nose was assaulted by all sorts of marvelous smells. She sat down at the waiting area which was filled with people. Vince shot her a look that questioned her sanity. "We aren't going to wait for a table?" she asked, more than a little confused.

"No." He walked into the dining area with a confident stride. Carly followed him, her curiosity growing with each step. His eyes landed on an older woman with a red and black mu-mu standing in the doorway of the kitchen, apparently talking to someone inside the kitchen. A grin slowly spread across his face as he approached the older woman. "Hola, Tia Leah," he said quietly, startling the woman.

The woman spun around on her heel and one of the largest smiles Carly had ever seen spread across her wrinkled face. "Vincent!" she exclaimed, wrapping her plump arms around Vince's neck. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you in a long time, Mijo. I've been worried."

"Sorry, Tia, I've just been busy with work," he explained on a sigh.

Leah smiled and nodded. "Dominic working you hard? That boy never stops does he?" She shook her head slowly. Her light brown eyes landed on Carly. "Vincent, who's this?"

"Tia, this is Carly, a new friend of mine," he said, gesturing to Carly. "CC this is Leah, the owner of this dump."

Leah slapped him across the head before pulling Carly into a hug. "Nice to meet you, Carly. It isn't very often that Vincent comes here and very rare that he has a girl with him."

Carly blushed slightly and smiled. "Nice to meet you too, Leah."

"Come, I'll show you to the best table in the restaurant."

Carly waited until Leah had left them with the menus to question Vince. "So Leah is your aunt?"

"You know Spanish?" Vince asked, eyebrows lifted in surprise.

"Oh please, Vinny, my last name is Estrada. Of course I know Spanish!" Carly said with a roll of her eyes.

Vince chuckled, shaking his head at her comment. "Leah's not my aunt. I grew up with her son, Elian, and I was always at their house."

"I know how that goes," Carly said, a sad smile spread across her face. Vince wondered what memory caused the sadness to invade her smile but decided against asking. He didn't want to scare her away. "What's good to eat here?"

"Everything."

She laughed while closing the menu. "Fine. You order for me then."

"You're not one of those girls that say that and then don't eat whatever I order because it's not a salad, are you?" he asked. It wouldn't be the first time a girl had done that to him.

Carly shook her head. "Definitely not. I like food and food is good."

"That's good to hear."

Vince ordered for them and laughed when Carly eagerly dug into the dish. They chatted for awhile about random things before the subject of music came up. "So, Vinny, what got you into guitar?"

"I needed something to drown up my parents' fighting," he said with a smirk, "so I picked up my old man's old one. It was probably the best thing he gave me. I taught myself and practiced every time they fought."

Carly frowned slightly. "Did they fight a lot?"

"Let's just say I got really good really fast," Vince said with a nod. "What about you? What sparked your interest?"

"What didn't?" Carly said with a light laugh. "I've played the piano for years, but the guitar has always called out to me. Plus, I couldn't bring my piano here so I've been on music withdrawal."

Vince chuckled. "I know how that feels. We got a piano at the house. Its dusty as shit since none of us know how to play it, but you're free to."

"Be careful, I might take you up on that offer and then never leave your house." Carly looked down at her halfway finished meal and then up at Vince's hungry face and giggled. "Vinny, I am about to burst from all this food, and I can see you're nowhere near full capacity. Can you finish this plate off?"

He eagerly took the plate from in front of her and dug in. "Thanks, CC." Once finished, Vince and Carly bade Leah goodbye before heading back to his car. "We can go back to my place and I'll start teaching you if you want."

"Usually I wait until at least the third date to go back to a guy's place," Carly joked, stepping into his car. "But since I'm guessing this wasn't a date and you're offering free music lessons, I'll take you up on that offer."

"The _third_ date, huh?" Vince said, wondering if she would be willing to go on at least one real date with him let alone three. "That's it?"

Carly snorted. "I don't sleep with them on the third date, perv. I'll just let them take me to their place. To get me in bed is a real big feat. You have to try really hard to do that."

He couldn't help but laugh at her bluntness. This girl wasn't like any other girl he met before. She was blunt and smart and made him laugh like no other. "There's something I haven't heard from a girl before."

"Well I'm sure you don't talk to the girls at the races about that kind of stuff until after you've gotten them in bed in which case the point of the whole conversation would be null and void," she said sarcastically, the corner of her lips curling slightly.

Vince shook his head at her. "You're something else."

Carly grinned and shrugged. "That's what I hear."

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Tell me what you think please!!! D Thanks!! 


	5. Chords and Meat

I haven't updated in a looooong time! So here it is…the fifth chapter…TA DA! I hope its good…I don't know exactly where I'm going with this yet, but I swear I'm working on it:-D

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own no one but Carly!

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**Chapter Five: Chords and Meat**

**By: LoveInk**

Vince pulled up in front of the house and looked over at Carly who seemed to be surprised. He raised his eyebrows at her. "What?"

"I just wasn't expecting such a big house. Do you live in here alone?" she questioned, getting out of the car and following him to the front door.

He shook his head. "Nah. There's six of us livin' in here."

Carly's mouth formed an 'o' in understanding as she stepped into the house. The house didn't seem to fit Vince. It was too nice, too clean for him. He didn't seem to be the neat, organized type. "Wow, this place is clean."

"Yeah, Mia does a pretty good job cleaning up after us up here," he stated before opening a door and revealing a staircase. Walking down the stairs, Carly understood what he meant when he said "up here." The downstairs wasn't nearly as clean as the upstairs. A dingy couch sat in the "living room" of the basement, the TV in front of it was on with no one watching it, and video games and a video game console were spread all over the stained rug by the TV. She looked at the room and found four doors all of them shut tightly. Vince opened one of the doors and Carly was met with the smell of his cologne.

"You have quite the bachelor pad," Carly commented, sitting on his bed without a thought. The room was surprisingly clean. She eyed the guitar case propped against the wall. "How many guys actually live down here?"

"Three," Vince answered, grabbing said guitar case and taking out his acoustic guitar. "You ready to start these lessons?"

Carly nodded eagerly. "Yes Master. I am ready."

Vince chuckled and sat next to her. He taught her all the basics and was surprised at how quickly she picked it up. He started teaching her a song and laughed when she got the chords wrong. "I was doing so well too," she said with a pout. "This sucks. I just can't get the feel for the changes. I mean, I get my fingers down for the first one and then when its time to change it, it all goes to hell."

"Let me show you then," he took the guitar from her and she watched while he played, his fingers finding every chord perfectly. "This isn't even a hard song, CC."

Carly hit his arm. "Shut up! I'm trying here! My fingers just don't work that way!"

"Yeah they do. It's not that hard. Come here," he sat on the ground and gestured to his lap. "You sit here and I'll guide your fingers." She looked at him uneasily, wondering what repercussions of sitting on his lap might have. "I don't bite," he said, the wolfish grin she loved spreading across his face.

She blushed and sat down on his lap. He set the guitar before her. "Now put your fingers on the first chord," he instructed. She did as she was told, trying to ignore the shivers that ran up her spine at the feel of his breath on her neck. "There, now play that part." As she strummed the guitar, she felt his fingers cover hers and gently move them when it was time. "See? You got it."

Carly laughed and leaned against him, letting him take the guitar from her and finish the song while she watched. He loved having her so close to him. The warm vanilla smell of her hair drove him crazy. Her eyes closed as he kept playing, her lithe fingers tapping the beat on his knee. He finished the song and her eyes fluttered open. "I could sit here and listen to you play forever," she admitted, a slow smile spreading across her face. She felt his laugh rumble through his chest and couldn't help the butterflies that fluttered in her stomach. _I wouldn't mind_, he thought.

Turning slightly in his lap so she could see his face, Carly raised an eyebrow. "What are you thinking about right now?"

He leaned in, ready to kiss her, and then… "Hey, you get the meat?" Leon questioned, barging into his room. He caught one glimpse of them and cringed, realizing what he had just interrupted.

Vince pulled away from Carly, frowning when she stood from his lap and went to sit on the bed, taking the guitar with her. "Yeah, I did," he growled at Leon, annoyance seeping into his voice.

"Nice. What's up, Carly? I didn't know you were here," Leon said, nodding a hello to the girl.

Carly waved. "Vince is teaching me guitar. What are you up to?"

"Oh is that what that's called?" he teased in response.

Vince stood from his place on the ground and headed to the door. He started closing it on Leon. "Goodbye Leon," he grunted, shutting it all the way. "Sorry about that. Fucker never remembers to knock."

"There's not much privacy in this house, huh? I bet you all have secret signals for when you're doing 'it' so you don't get interrupted," Carly said with a laugh. "What do you do, put a hat on the door handle or something?"

He shook his head, chuckling at her question. "Leon'll put the girl's shoe outside the door when he remembers to."

"That's something I haven't heard before," she said, her eyebrows raised in surprised. "And you?"

Vince shrugged, wondering if he should let her in on that secret. "That is classified information."

Carly rolled her eyes but laughed just the same. A second of silence went by before she jumped from her seat on the bed, shouting, "Oh! I'm vibrating!"

"Now that's something you don't hear everyday!" Vince tried his best to keep a straight face as he watched Carly fish her vibrating phone out of her back pocket, but his shoulders shook with laughter.

"Shut up," she said, sticking her tongue out at him and pulling a face. "Hey Chris! What's up? A client's there for me? No, I didn't have anything scheduled, but I guess I can take him. I'll get there as soon as I can without risking my life." She shut the phone and frowned at Vince. "You need to drive me back to the shop. ASAP," she demanded.

Vince smirked, "And what if I don't?"

"Chris will have your ass. This dude wants a back piece, and that's a lot of money," Carly explained. She ran a hand through her hair as she stood up. "So let's go now!"

"All right, all right, let's go," he said, grabbing his car keys off his dresser.

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Ok so it was short... I am writing as fast as possible to put Chapter 6 up!! I have finals though which sucks, but I promise I'll get it up soon:-D

Review please!! I love hearing your opinions (and ideas if you have any)!

Love Ink


	6. Finger paints and Peoples

YAY for sixth chapter!!

**THANK YOU** to everyone who has so kindly read and reviewed!! I LOVE hearing from you guys!! :-) You're the best!!

Disclaimer: As always, I own nothing but the new people

* * *

**Chapter Six: Finger paints and Peoples**

**By: Love Ink**

Carly skipped into the shop, her dark hair bouncing around her as she swung open the front doors and proclaimed, "I'm here!" Tiny footsteps were heard running towards her. Carly immediately squatted down before the toddler launched himself at her. "Boone!" she exclaimed cheerfully swinging the three-year-old around.

Chris walked out quickly behind him, a large grin spread across his tan face. "I was wondering how long it would take you to get here," the older man stated.

"Sorry, Chris. He was teaching me some guitar and I lost all track of time." Carly looked from the older man to the younger one in her arms, marveling at the similarity between them. Boone had definitely inherited his father's bright green eyes and dark, messy hair but he had his mother's grace and smile. By the look of his black, skater t-shirt and tiny Vans, it seemed he had also inherited his father's sense of style. "Hey big guy!" she cooed to the young boy. "Did you come to visit your mommy?"

Boone nodded. "I draw too!" Carly laughed when he held out his little arm and proudly displayed the assortment of differently colored squiggly lines he had drawn there. He jabbed his finger at the large nautical star tattooed on Carly's shoulder. "See, I like you, Aunty Cawly!" Carly grinned at the way Boone pronounced his r's at w's.

"You certainly are, Boo," she said giggling when she saw a streak of black across his father's cheek. "Is there a reason why we are blessed with a guest artist?"

"We couldn't get a baby sitter anywhere," his mother, Miracle, explained from her chair where she was working. She paused for a second to swoop her long, straight blonde hair into a low ponytail. "Stell's in the back doing her homework."

Carly's brow furrowed slightly as she glanced toward the office. "Mira, she's in kindergarten. What homework could she possibly have?"

"I honestly think she made it up to sound important," she answered. Miracle's fierce blue eyes never left the lower back piece she was working on as she talked.

Carly watched Chris watch Miracle. She was fascinated by the adoration in Chris' eyes. 

Chris and Miracle had been together for over ten years, had two kids, and refused to be married. They claimed marriage was a label they didn't need since they so obviously loved each other. She laid a big kiss on Boone's cheek before setting him down and watching him run to the back room. Waving a hand in his face, Carly pulled Chris attention back to herself. "Where is this back piece client you_ so_ needed me for?" she questioned.

Chris sighed and ran a hand through his spikey hair. "Chickened out. His friend was going on and on about how painful full back pieces were and he just chickened out. Sorry," he said, regret in his eyes. "I didn't mean to bother you on your date."

"Woah, woah, woah," Carly said, her hand held up in a stop-sign like way. "Who said it was a date?"

"Well let's run it through Chris' patented questionnaire to determine whether it was a date or not," Chris exclaimed with an impish grin. Miracle groaned in the background. It was clear she had heard her boyfriend's questionnaire before. "Shut up, Mira. It works!" He turned his attention back to Carly. "Okay, number one. Fast food or sit-down restaurant?"

"Restaurant," Carly replied with a shrug. "It was his Aunt's place."

Chris tried to hide his surprise. "Cha Cha Cha's? Nice. So you didn't pay, of course," he said more to himself than to Carly as he rubbed the sides of his beard with his thumb and forefinger. "Number two: Did he open doors for you?"

"Surprisingly yes," Carly said slowly. Chris didn't try to hide his surprise that time. "I was surprised too! I definitely didn't see him as the opening doors type."

"Just because he's never opened a door for you, babe, doesn't mean he doesn't do it for ladies," Miracle threw in from her chair. Her client had left moments before and she was just lounging in her chair, an amused smile on her face as she listened to the conversation.

He rolled his eyes at her and scowled. "Thank you, peanut gallery! Number three: Did he kiss you?"

A fierce blush found its way onto Carly's cheek as she thought of the near-kiss. Miracle laughed as she stood from her seat and walked over to them. Throwing an arm around Carly's shoulders, she winked at Chris, "Let's take that as a yes."

"He didn't though!" Carly exclaimed, her emerald eyes wide. "I swear he didn't!"

Chris looked her over, his eyes scrutinizing her as they searched from something that would reveal a lie. He frowned when he couldn't find anything. "Alas, she's telling the truth. Well, those are all the questions I can think of. Mira, do you got any?"



"A few," she said a mischievous smile on her face.

Carly knew that look. Before, Miracle could open her mouth; Carly turned on her heel and disappeared into the back of the shop. She found the small table where her favorite niece and nephew were coloring. "Hello Ms. Stella," she said, plopping down on the seat next to the curly headed blonde. "How's the homework coming?"

"Hi Aunty Carly! The homework's comin' really good because I am really smart," she explained proudly. Bright blue paint was smudged across one of her cheeks and covered her fingers not to mention her once white sundress. "I'm done now. Now I'm teaching Boone how to finger paint."

"Yeah! Look Aunty C!" Boone exclaimed, holding up a sheet of paper soaked through with paint in front of his face. When he set it down, Carly saw that not only was the paper covered with paint, his face and clothes were too.

Carly giggled, taking the sheet of paper from him. "This is beautiful, Boone! Can I put it up by my workstation?"

"Weally? You want it?" he said, his green eyes wide with surprise. "Stewa said it was ucky!"

"Its not yucky, babe! I love it!" she looked over at Stella's masterpiece. The girl seemed to have inherited her parents' talents. A bright blue sky hung over a red flower with a vibrant yellow sun hanging somewhere in-between. "Can I take yours too, Stella?"

Stella nodded, her face very serious. "I'll have to ask Daddy. He said I should get money for my pieces."

"How bout I give you a quarter for it?"

Stella's blue eyes lit up with excitement for a brief moment before she put on the serious act again. "I'm goin to have to speak with my peoples first." She pulled out a toy pink cellphone from her Princess purse and chatted away.

"Me too! I speak with peoples too!" Boone cried, reaching for Stella's phone. Carly saw the fight coming from a mile away. Swiftly, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and put it in Boone's hand. "Here, hon, call your people on that." She heard her name and headed out into the shop leaving Boone with her cellphone.

Vince was lying underneath a car he had already finished; taking a brief nap when a sudden burst of rock music woke him. He jolted up in surprised, smacking his head against the underside of the car. Swearing to himself, he rolled out from under the car and took out his cell phone. His heart rose in his chest when he saw the caller i.d.. It was Carly. He swiftly answered 

the phone. "Hello."

"Peoples?" a small voice came from the end. "Hello peoples, dat you?"

Vince glanced at the phone to make sure he had read the name right. He had. "Carly?"

"No, no Aunty Cawly, silly. I's Boone and you's peoples," the voice, now identified as Boone explained on the other line. "Peoples, what's your name?"

"Vince, buddy, my name is Vince," he said, chuckling to himself. It seemed as though Carly's nephew had gotten a hold of her phone. "What can I do for you, Boone?"

"Ince, I's got a picture and how much should I sell it for?" It was then that Vince heard Carly's loud footsteps and a giggle. She asked Boone if he was talking to anyone, and he replied, "Just Ince. He tell me how much."

"Vince?" It was Carly on the phone now. Vince could practically hear the blush in her voice. "I am so sorry, Vinny. I swear that I had no idea he was actually going to call someone, and I don't know how he managed to pick your name of all people!" she rambled.

Vince laughed when he heard Boone screaming in the background, asking for the phone back. "Hey, I wasn't finished talking to my peoples," he stated hoping it was clear to Carly that it was okay.

"You weren't, huh? Well then, make sure you get me a good deal okay?"

"We'll see."

"Otay, Ince. How much?" Boone's voice came onto the phone again.

He wracked his brain for a good price. Smiling he said, "Tell your Aunty she owes you a quarter and me a kiss."

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Hope you liked it!! Please review!! :-)


	7. Rock 'n' Roll and Payment

Thanks again to everyone who reviewed!! I love and appreciate all your comments!!

Disclaimer: As always, I own nothing but my original characters…

Here goes…

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**Chapter 7: Rock 'n' Roll and Payment**

By: LoveInk

Vince pulled up in front of a large house. He raised an eyebrow; he could've sworn Carly had said she lived in an apartment. Once at the door, he rechecked the address to make sure it was correct; it was. The door opened, but it seemed like no one was behind it. Then he looked down to find a pair of large brown eyes looking back at him. "Hello Mister," the little boy said, "Who are you?"

"I'm Vince," he said trying not to smile. The little boy was the spitting image of Chris.

His eyes widened and a bright smile spread across his chubby cheeks. "Peoples! Peoples, its me Boone!"

Vince chuckled, squatting down to get to Boone's level. "Well, nice to finally meet you in person." He put out his hand for Boone to shake. Vince's paw-like hand dwarfed Boone's tiny one. "Is your Aunt Carly around?"

"Boone!" Miracle's frantic voice called, as her loud footsteps were heard stomping towards the door. "Boone! How many times have I told you not to answer the door by yourself! Especially if you don't know the person! It could be some psycho killer!" Miracle looked up and smiled at Vince. "Hey, you! Long time no see!"

"He's my peoples, Mama!" Boone said with an excited clap of his hands.

Vince nodded, standing up and pulling Miracle into a hug. "How you doin', Mira?"

"As good as a mother of two can be," she answered with a bright smile. "My husband tells me you and Baby C have got something going on. Was he right?"

He didn't know what to say to her because he wasn't sure himself what was going on so he shrugged in response. "Does she live here or did she give me the wrong address?"

Miracle narrowed her eyes at him, knowing he was avoiding the subject. She had come to know Vince through Chris and had found him to be somewhat of a player. His avoidance of the subject seemed a little out of character, she had thought he'd be cocky about his possible fling with Carly, but he seemed reluctant to even talk about it. "She lives in the apartment downstairs. Booney, baby, get your Aunt."



"I'll get her," Vince said, earning himself a look from Miracle. He gave her an innocent smile and shrug. "I'll surprise her."

She took a step back and waved for him to come in. He followed her through their house, chuckling as he sidestepped tiny toy cars and naked Barbie's. They crossed a short bridge from the house to the apartment and Miracle opened the door for him. "Go ahead. She's gonna kill me for this," she said with a light laugh.

Vince entered the house, smiling as her scent hit him. The apartment was filled with light, its walls a bright blue. One of the walls in the living room was a mural of an island beach with an empty hammock and palm trees. He half expected to see sand on the ground beneath it. Loud music floated the house, contrasting against the peaceful atmosphere. Instinctively, he followed the sound and found the door to what he assumed to be her room. He pushed it open carefully, trying not to make any noise. And there she was, dressed in jeans and a backless halter, singing her lungs out into her hairbrush to the tune of "I Love Rock n' Roll" and dancing to the music. Vince bit back laughter as her dark hair swung back and forth, flying into her face as she banged her head. Then, her eyes caught his in the mirror and a brief look of horror crossed her face when she saw him leaning so casually against the doorjamb watching her. Carly turned around, a deep red blush colored her cheeks as the hairbrush fell from her fingertips. "Don't stop on my account," he said the corners of his lips turning up. She looked so attractive at that moment that it took all of his strength not to grab her and toss her on the bed.

"You were not supposed to see that," she stated, turning down the stereo while running a hand through her hair.

"I wasn't?" He laughed, his laughter filling the room and making her heart skip a tiny beat. "That's a shame, I kinda liked it. Now, about your nephew's payment."

Carly narrowed her eyes at him. "You are one sneaky devil, you know that? What if I said I didn't get the painting? Then what?"

He shrugged nonchalantly and took a step toward her. Brushing a stray hair out of her face, he dipped his face so his lips were centimeters from hers. Her breath caught in her throat. "I think I'll take the payment anyway," he almost growled. Carly had to remind herself to breathe.

"You guys leavin' yet?" Miracle questioned a smug smile on her face, Boone was perched on her hip.

Stella hid behind Miracle's legs, giggling. "Mommy, Booney's people almost kissed Aunty C like in Sleeping Beauty."

Another blush colored Carly's cheeks as she pushed passed Vince and swept Stella up 

into her arms. "No we didn't, Stells. Vince was just telling me a secret."

"Yeah, to her lips," Miracle scoffed with a roll of her eyes. She dropped Boone gently to the floor and put her hands on her hips. "Can you guys kiss already? Booney wanted to make sure Vince got his payment for the painting. He's been talking about it nonstop."

Carly rolled her eyes, placing Stella on the ground before crouching so she was face to face with Boone. "You don't really want me to kiss this dirty guy, do you?" she asked, her voice teasing.

Boone nodded solemnly. "A pwomise is a pwomise."

"Damn your dad for instilling good values into you," Carly swore with a scowl. She stood and crossed the room to Vince with what she hoped was a sexy smile on her face. He was waiting with a cocky smile, his arms crossed over his broad chest. Standing on her tip-toes, Carly pulled him closer and placed a big, loud kiss on his scruffy cheek. "Payment made," she stated with a grin at Vince's surprised face."No one specified what kind of kiss."

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I'm putting the finishing touches on the next chapter so it should be up sometime this week!! _Please review, it totally makes my day!_


	8. Spanish Dances and Curious Plans

**Thanks for all the reviews!!** I love you all!!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Carly!

So here it is, as promised, Chapter Ocho…

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**Chapter Eight: Spanish Dances and Curious Plans**

**By: LoveInk**

"You're a cheater," Vince accused once the two were in his car and out of Boone's hearing range.

Carly giggled at seeing the big, scruffy guy pouting like a five year old who didn't get his way. She stuck her tongue out at him. "It was mean of you to con my favorite nephew into something like that anyway."

The smile on her face told Vince she wasn't serious about the statement so he laughed. "I thought it was smart, actually," he retorted with the half grin she loved.

"For you," she scoffed with a roll of her eyes.

He gave her a mock-offended look before reaching a hand over and squeezing her knee. She wriggled in her seat, her screams and giggles bouncing off the Maxima's interior. It had been a guess that she'd be somewhat ticklish there, but just how ticklish the spot was had been unexpected. He squeezed her knee harder and she writhed around trying desperately with her hands to get his paw-like hand off her knee. Taking his hand off, he poked a finger into her side and got a similar response to the one he had gotten before. "You are probably the most ticklish person I have ever met!" he exclaimed with a chuckle, placing his hand back on the stick shift.

Carly was taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down. Her cheeks hurt from laughing so hard. Wiping away happy tears from her eyes, she sent him an evil glare. "Everyone has a ticklish spot," she defended, her arms crossed over her chest. "Even you." She prodded his side and got no response, though she did notice just how rock-hard his stomach was. Maybe he didn't have a ticklish spot after all.

"You're never gonna find it, babe," he said with a shake of his head.

Her green eyes took on a look of determination and her hands started flitting all over his body—well as much as they could from the passenger's seat. He remained still as stone, his usual cocky grin firmly in place on his face, and she gave up with an exasperated sigh as they pulled up to the fort. "What are you made of? Stone?" she questioned, throwing her hands up in the air.

Laughing, he got out of the car and opened the door for her. "Maybe I am," he said, 

putting a thick arm around her shoulders and leading her over to the backyard where a bald man had just started pouring lighter fluid on a grill. Upon seeing the two walking up the driveway, a wide smile spread across the bald man's face.

"Vince! Whatcha got there, brotha?" he called out to them, his arms open in question. A simple white t-shirt clung to his humungous frame, outlining the muscles underneath it. Carly couldn't help but be a little intimidated by him since he was almost twice her size.

"Dominic, this is Carly. Carly, this is Dominic," Vince introduced, waving a hand between them.

Dominic stretched out a hand towards her. "Nice job on V's arm. Looks good on him," he said, shaking her hand. "And it's hard to make him look good."

"I know, I tried my best," she answered, suddenly feeling more at ease with the bald man despite his size. Anyone who teased Vince was okay with her. She spotted Leon out of the corner of her eye and before she could speak, he had wrapped his arms around her from behind and picked her up off the ground.

"Hello gorgeous," Leon explained, spinning her in a circle before setting her back down on her feet. "Long time no see."

"Hi Leon," Carly said with a roll of her eyes.

Vince sent Leon a jealous glare before wrapping an arm around Carly's waist. He ushered her into the house, both of them waving hellos to Letty on the way up the old stairs. Carly followed her nose into the kitchen. The smell of cornbread wafted through the air making her mouth water. Once inside the small kitchen, she found a beautiful Italian girl turning a knob on the oven. "This is Mia, our resident cook and mother," Vince introduced, gesturing toward the girl who stopped what she was doing at once and beamed at Carly. "Mi, this is Carly."

Mia surprised Carly by pulling her into a hug. "Hi! I've heard so much about you!" she gushed, excitement in her brown eyes. It was obvious she was happy to meet someone new. Carly wondered if she had any friends outside the team, and then quickly decided she did; a girl that nice had to. The adoring way in which Vince's blue eyes regarded Mia did not go unnoticed by Carly. She put the observation in the corner of her mind, saving it for a moment where she could ask Vince about it.

"It smells delicious in here," Carly said, trying to start some kind of conversation while Vince headed down to the basement to grab someone Mia referred to as Jess.

Mia turned back to the oven. "I'm glad you appreciate it! I cook so often I rarely get compliments any more!" she exclaimed over her shoulder. The two made small talk until Vince reappeared with a blonde boy Carly assumed was Jesse standing nervously beside him.

"CC, this is Jesse. Jesse this is Carly," Vince introduced.

Jesse grinned and shook her hand vigorously making Carly giggle. "I saw your portfolio on the internet and loved it! I've been looking to get some new ink for ages! I haven't thought of anything to do yet so it might be a while but I really hope you can do it," he rambled, his hands gesturing wildly in front of him.

Carly smiled, happy with his eagerness. They chatted for a while about tattoos while Vince looked on with a mildly amused expression; it seemed Carly was one of the few people who could keep up with Jesse's rapidly changing ideas. She took them all with enthusiasm and excitement and was patient when he stumbled on words. It wasn't long before Mia was kicking them out of the kitchen with the claim they were disturbing her cooking focus.

They sat at the table, Vince with his feet kicked up on the table, a Corona dangling from his fingers. Carly at his side, her bare feet stretched in front of her, flip-flops forgotten somewhere under the table. Leon was playing basketball with Jesse while Letty flirted needlessly with Dominic. The smooth sounds of Santana providing the perfect soundtrack for such a warm, summer day. Carly tapped her chipped, yellow-painted nails on the arm of the chair to the beat of the song before she stood. "Dance with me," she ordered Vince, holding her hands out to him.

All eyes fell on Vince. Vince looked up at her like she was crazy. "What?"

"She asked you to dance with her you moron," Letty repeated with a roll of her eyes.

Carly saw the reluctance in his blue eyes and stuck her bottom lip out in a pout. "Please?" she asked in the voice she used to talk to Boone. "It's a good song!"

"If he won't, I will, doll," Leon offered sniggering as he resumed the basketball game.

"You're not going to make me dance with _him_ are you?" she questioned, her tone one of mock disgust.

Vince shook his head, no and hesitantly took her hands, allowing her to pull him out of the chair and towards the empty patch of grass reserved for Mia tanning lounge chair. He was glad he let her when a glittering smile spread across her face, lighting up her eyes. Frowning slightly, he ran a hand through his hair. "I don't dance," he claimed with a shrug of one shoulder.

"It's easy," Carly encouraged. "This arm goes around my waist and this hand holds my hand." He did as was instructed; pulling her closer to his chest with the arm that was around her waist. "Now when I put my foot back, you put your foot forward."



Slowly, they danced, Vince's eyes never leaving his feet for fear that he would step on hers. He could hear Leon and Dom teasing him and threw some idle threats over his shoulder to them causing Carly to giggle. They danced on, Vince growing confident enough with the steps to spin her. He was doing fine until Carly started singing along to the words. Her soft voice broke his concentration as the smooth Spanish words washed over him completely throwing him off. Before he could get his concentration back, he managed to step on her barefoot with his huge boots. She swore loudly, hitting his chest playfully as she jumped up and down. "Ow! You big oaf!" she exclaimed, holding her toe dramatically and hopping in place. Howls of laughter erupted from the rest of the team. "That was my foot!"

Carly hopped over to a chair and sat down, massaging her foot with a frown on her face. Vince sat down at her feet, gently taking the injured one into his lap. "Sorry," he grunted to her.

She giggled as his strong hands began rubbing her foot. It amazed her how his big, rough hands could so gently massage her small feet. Leaning forward, she pressed a kiss to his arm right on the head of the dragon she had drawn there. His eyes locked on to hers and he felt unfamiliar warmth spread through his chest. "Thanks," she stated simply in reply to the questioning look in his eyes.

"Anytime, babe," he replied. His thick, raspy voice sent shivers down Carly's spine.

Letty watched them from the kitchen window, her arms crossed over her chest. "What do you think about them, Mia?"

"Takes his attention off me, so I'm fine with it," Mia stated simply, her eyes looking up from the bowl of salad she was tossing to the couple on the beach chair. "Plus, I like her. Why, what are you thinking?"

She shrugged and sighed. "I love Vince with all my heart, I really do, but for some reason I don't see it working out. He always manages to screw it up somehow, you know?"

Mia nodded, running a hand through her long hair before placing her hands on her hips. "We're just going to have to make sure he doesn't."

Letty scrutinized her, trying to decipher whether her best friend was being serious or not. She grinned when she saw the determination in her dark Toretto eyes. "I like the way you think."

The team plus Carly ate the delicious barbeque, enjoying the LA heat. Carly listened to the many different conversations going on at the table, amazed by how every person seemed to be listening to all the conversations at the same time. One minute, she'd be having a playful conversation with Vince; the next, Vince would be voicing his opinion on the cross-table conversation Leon and Dominic were having. It was hard to keep up with such a lively crew but somehow, she did. Mia stood to clean the table, glaring pointedly at Letty for her to do the 

same. Letty obliged quicker than she usually would, earning her a curious glare from Dom. The two girls began clearing the table, and Carly quickly stood to help them. Letty and Mia exchanged meaningful glares before leading the way into the kitchen.

"They're up to something," Dominic stated, once the girls had left.

Leon chuckled, shaking his head slowly. "Poor Carly."

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Thanks again for reading and _please _review!! :-) New chapter should be up next week! I have midterms this week!! AAAH!!


	9. Alcohol and Warm Feelings

Disc: I own nothing…duh

Sorry its been so long!! I've been super busy!! I love you all and thanks so much for your reviews!! Two Chapters this week!! Yay!!

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**Chapter 9: Alcohol and Warm Feelings**

_By: LoveInk_

Dom fought laughter as he watched Vince shift nervously in his chair. The girls had disappeared shortly after the table was cleared and had been gone over an hour, leaving the boys alone with each other. This usually would've been fine, even welcomed, except for the fact that they had taken a hostage this time. "What do you think they're doing in there?" Vince asked, tapping his fingers on the table.

"Torturing her," Leon stated frankly. Vince threw him a nasty glare but the green eye man just shrugged it off. "What do you think they're doing to her man? They're probably just talking."

"What could they be talking about so much?"

Jesse shrugged as he tossed his thumb ring in the air and caught it. "Dunno. Probably you."

Dom laughed at the look of horror on Vince's face. Mia and Letty had known him for years and there was no telling what awful stories they had about him that they were now sharing with his maybe-girlfriend. "Chill, V," he said, trying to calm him. "I don't think there's anything they could tell Carly that would scare her away."

"They could tell her about that one time you got caught with your pants around your ankles in the garage with that girl," Leon sniggered. Vince threw the beer bottle cap at him.

Jesse chuckled, leaning forward in his chair eagerly as he threw in his own story. "Or the time you were arrested for being drunk and cried over the phone."

"I did not," Vince growled, glaring at the blonde man.

"You totally did," Dom nodded his agreement. "Or the time you got thrown in jail for armed robbery," he added more seriously.

Vince stood abruptly, knocking the plastic chair over in the process. He stalked toward the house, climbing the stairs, his heart racing. He didn't want Carly to hear any of those stories because then she would see just how wrong he was for her, and he hadn't wanted that to 

happen until he at least got to know her better. He could hear the girls' giggling from the kitchen and followed the noise to Mia's room. Pressing his ear up against the door, he tried to make out what they were saying.

"Vince is a good, good guy, Car," Mia stated, her speech somewhat slurred, "but he can act like a big kid sometimes."

Letty laughed at this. "When he doesn't get his way, he pouts," she added in. Her voice wasn't nearly as slurred as Mia's. Letty always could hold her liquor.

"I know!" Carly exclaimed; judging by the volume of her voice and the way her words were running together, she was the drunkest. "He did it today!"

Something was whispered indistinctly and the girls erupted into laughter. "Do you like him, though, Car?" Letty questioned.

"I think so. I just don't think he likes me, ya know? I mean, who would? I've got tattoos everywhere! Most guys take one look and head in the other direction."

Mia scoffed and Vince could practically see her rolling her eyes. "Have you _seen _Vince, Carly? I mean, take a good look at him. He's a big tough scary guy who has done…"

Vince burst through the door, not wanting Mia to finish that thought. He bit back a smile when he saw Carly lying on the floor, her hair fanned out around her with an empty bottle of vodka, Mia on the bed holding another empty bottle, and Letty next to her holding yet another bottle that was more than halfway done. It seemed as though each girl had had their own bottle. No wonder they were smashed. "Vinny!" Carly exclaimed, trying her best to stand up but failing miserably. "Vinny, we were just talking about you! Come sit with us!"

"I think its time for me to take you home, CC," Vince stated, gently helping her up before lifting her into his arms.

Letty scowled at him, her arms crossed over her chest. "That's not fair! We only just started having fun!"

"Yeah, I'm going to talk to you about that later," he grunted, throwing her an angry glare.

Mia giggled in response, her brown hair falling in front of her face as she did so. "Uh-oh Coyote's mad!"

Carly laughed, wrapping her arms around Vince's neck and cuddling into his chest. "You're named Coyote," she slurred, jabbing her finger into his chest. "Because you're big and scruffy and you only like to come out at night."

"Exactly how much did she have to drink?" Vince questioned, one eyebrow raised as Carly erupted into giggles against him.

Letty held an empty bottle up in front of her face. Her dark eyes were filled with amusement at how angry Vince looked. "These were three-quarters of the way filled when we started playing," she explained a devious look in her eyes. "We were playing 'I Never' in reverse. Instead of drinking if you _have_ done something, your drink if you haven't. Which explains why these goody-two-shoes are hammered."

"I haven't done a lot of things, Vinny," Carly repeated, a silly grin on her face. "Why don't you put me down and we can play some more?" Vince shook his head and turned to head towards the door. The girls followed him down the stairs, Mia leaning heavily on Letty. Vince set her down at the bottom of the stairs and went to the backyard to tell the guys goodbye.

He came back seconds later to see the three girls lying in a heap at the bottom of the stairs giggling. Shaking his head at them, he pulled Carly up off the ground before turning around. "Get on my back," he ordered. She hopped on and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. He walked into the backyard and past all the guys still sitting at the table.

"Bye Dom! Bye Leon! Bye J-man!" she called, taking one hand off of his neck to wave to them. He instinctively grabbed the other to make sure she didn't let go completely and fall off. The boys all said their goodbyes back to her as they started down the driveway. "You are strong, Vinny," she commented with a laugh as Vince hitched her legs up higher on his waist.

"You don't weigh anything, CC," he answered her with a roll of his eyes. When he got to the car, he expected her to get right off his back but instead, she placed a light kiss on the nape of his neck. He let go of her legs in surprise but quickly turned to catch her before she fell to the ground. Opening the door for her, he gently placed her inside.

Vince started driving towards Carly's house, all the while watching her to make sure she wasn't going to be sick. He was angry at Letty and Mia for getting Carly so drunk. It was stupid of them to do something like that, they barely even knew her! He doubted Carly would ever want to come back after that night. "You're cute when you're mad," she said with a goofy grin, completely stopping his train of thought. Did she just call him cute?

"Cute?"

She nodded, the movement exaggerated by the amount of alcohol in her system. "Yes Sir! You, Vinny, are cute when you get all pouty and mad."

"You're drunk," he stated, trying hard not to smile.

"Probably!" She opened the window and let the wind blow her hair around her face. Her 

eyes slowly closed and she fell asleep against the window pane. He snuck glances at her as he drove, marveling at how beautiful she was. Her dark hair was blowing across her face; the red streaks in it making her look just a little tanner in contrast. She mumbled something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like his name. He raised an eyebrow at her, rolling up the windows so he could hear her better. "Vinny," she murmured, a smile turning up the corners of her mouth. Vince bit back laughter, wondering what she was dreaming about.

As he neared her house, he dialed Miracle's number. It was around twelve o'clock and Vince could hear the kids whining about going to bed in the background as soon as she picked up. "What's up, Vin? You lost?" Miracle questioned.

"More like I need someone to open the door for me," Vince answered with a snicker. "She fell asleep on me."

"Are you that bad of a lover, Vince?" her laughter was heard on the other end.

He sighed, rolling his eyes as he pulled up to the house. "No, Mia and Letty got her drunk and she passed out in the car. Now would you just open the door? I'm outside."

"Yeah, but come through the apartment's front entrance. Carly is not going to want to hear the kids if she's drunk." At this, Vince saw a light switch on around the side of the house. He shut the phone, hanging up on Miracle, before walking to the other side of the car and taking Carly into his arms. Miracle stood waiting in the doorway with a shit-eating grin spread across her face. "Just how much alcohol did she have, V?"

"About three-quarters of a bottle of vodka," Vince said, stepping into the house and heading towards her room. He gently laid her on the bed and watched as she turned on her side and snuggled her face into the pillow. An unfamiliar warm feeling spread throughout his chest at the sight of her so peaceful and happy. Uncomfortable with the feeling, he turned to leave.

Miracle stopped him. "Where do you think you're going?"

Vince turned on his heel and faced the petite blonde. He held his arms out to his sides in question. "Home?"

"I have the kids to take care of, V. I can't watch her," she explained gesturing towards the room. Miracle knew if she asked Chris, she could stay the night in the apartment and watch Carly, but she thought it would be a better idea if Vince stayed. "I'll change her out of her jeans and then you can sleep over and make sure she's okay."

He hesitated, hands in his pockets. He wondered if sleeping next to Carly, even with the excuse that he was watching her, was stepping over a line the two had yet to cross. Yet, he didn't want Carly to spend the night alone. "I'll stay, but I'm sleeping on the couch."

She rolled her eyes in response as though his idea was one of the stupidest ideas ever. "Her bed is ten times more comfy but whatever. As long as you're here to take care of her, I guess."

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I hope you liked it!! I'm posting chapter 10 along with it!! Please review!!

Always love,

Love Ink


	10. Porcelain Gods and Idiots

Disc: I own nothing but Carly

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**Chapter 10: Porcelain Gods and Idiots**

_By: LoveInk_

Vince could not sleep. The couch he was using as a bed was about a foot too short for him and no matter how hard he tried, he could not find a comfortable position. He kicked his feet over the arm of the couch and stared at the ceiling, waiting for sleep to take him. A faint light appeared in the hallway before he heard the sound of fast footsteps running to what he assumed was the bathroom. After stopping at the kitchen to get a glass of water, he followed the light and found Carly hunched over the toilet. "Praying to the porcelain god?" he questioned, setting the glass of water on the counter before gently pulling her hair out of her face.

"What are you doing here?" Carly grumbled her voice hoarse and groggy.

He shrugged, letting go of her hair and handing her the glass of water. "Mira told me to stay and take care of you. Drink that. Where's your Advil?"

She stood slowly, rubbing her temple with one hand and opening the mirrored cabinet with the other. Vince's eyes roamed over her body as he watched her chug down the class of water. In just a black camisole and dark green boy shorts, she looked stunning. Pulling his eyes off her body, he refilled the glass and set it in front of her. "I'm not thirsty any more," she said, trying to push past him to get back in bed. His giant frame blocked the bathroom door; there was no way around him.

"Drink it. You'll thank me tomorrow," he ordered, nodding his head toward the glass. He felt like he was ordering a kid to eat their vegetables.

With a harsh glare, she grabbed the cup of water and downed it without stopping to breathe. She set the cup on the counter gently before an embarrassed blush rose to her cheeks. "I'm sorry. I'm being a brat," Carly admitted, running a hand through her messy hair before grabbing her toothbrush. "Thanks for taking care of me, but I'll be fine. You can go home now," she said around her toothbrush. He looked tired, and she didn't want him to see her puking any more than he already had.

He shook his head slowly and gently pushed her toward her bedroom. "I'm not going anywhere. Now get in the bed."

Once in her bed, Carly patted the space next to her. He looked at her skeptically and took a step closer to the bed, his hesitance to get in it apparent on his face. "You're not going to get any sleep on that couch and my bed is huge. I promise I don't bite...hard."



The thought of her biting him was reason enough for him to get in the bed. Taking off his jeans and his shirt, he slid into bed next to her. They lay in bed for awhile in complete silence. They were close enough to feel each other's body heat but too far to be touching. It seemed like neither of them wanted to be the first to cross that line. "Vinny?" Carly's pensive voice broke the silence.

"Yeah?" he replied, folding his arms underneath his head.

"What's the deal with you and Mia?"

The question surprised him. How could she have possibly known about his age-old crush on Mia? Did the girls tell her? He doubted it or else she would know that there was no deal between them. He had been chasing after Mia for years and nothing had happened. Deciding to play stupid, he said, "What do you mean?"

Carly let out a huge sigh. "I don't know. I just sort of get the feeling that there's something going on between you. I mean, did you guys date before or what?"

She was facing him now, her head propped up on her elbow. The moonlight danced along her shoulders making it hard for Vince to formulate any thoughts in his head that weren't about Carly. "Nah, we never dated." He didn't know what else to say about it. Should he be honest and tell her about the infantile longing he's had for Mia since she was old enough to be noticed?

"You like her though, huh?" she asked through a yawn. Were his ears playing tricks on him, or was there disappointment in her tone?

"I don't know," Vince turned toward her, mimicking her position and hoping he looked half as good to her as she did to him. "You see, right now, I kind of got my eye on this other girl." He hoped she'd get that he was talking about her.

"Anyone I know?" He could hear the smile in her voice and knew she had gotten the hint. Carly's fingers began lightly tracing up his arm, drawing unrecognizable shapes as she went.

"Maybe," he said, swallowing hard as her fingers brushed across his shoulders.

Her fingers lightly swept across the crook of his shoulder and he flinched, shrugging his shoulder uncomfortably. Carly's eyes lit up and she tickled him more, laughing as he grabbed her wrist and held it away from him. "I found it!" she exclaimed, a bright smile spreading across her face. "I found your ticklish spot!"

"No, no you didn't! I just had a twitch," he denied, laughing as she tried to pull her wrist out of his grasp.

"Then let go of my wrist."

Vince didn't let go. Instead, he used his other hand to tickle her. She wriggled around, moving closer to him than ever. He stopped when she was almost on top of him, their faces mere inches away from each other. Carly's smile slowly faded as her breath hitched in her throat. He let go of her wrist to brush a piece of hair out of her eyes, letting his hand linger on her face. She leaned in, he leaned in, and then smack! "Ouch!" she cried out, rubbing her forehead.

"Shit!" he grumbled, rubbing his own forehead. "I can't catch a break," he mumbled.

Carly pressed her forehead against Vince's chest in what he thought was embarrassment until her shoulders began to shake and her giggles filled the room. He looked at her like she was crazy. "You have to admit that was funny!" Her eyes met his, the green orbs glittering with laughter.

"I was _trying_ to kiss you," he stated, not seeing the humor in the situation.

"And I was trying to kiss you which is why we bumped heads!" she explained through giggles.

Suddenly, his lips were on hers, quieting her laughter. The same unfamiliar warmth that he had felt when he saw her sleeping began spreading through his stomach when he kissed her. He pulled away suddenly. What was going on with him? He didn't get all warm and fuzzy over girls. Hurt flashed through her green eyes briefly but was gone as quickly as it had appeared. "You should go to sleep," he murmured gruffly.

Carly's thin eyebrows knotted together in confusion. Hadn't he just kissed her; kissed her so hard and passionately that she felt it from her head to her toes? Without another word, she flipped onto her stomach and scooted a few inches away from him. She was too tired and drunk to deal with rejection; it was something that would need to be faced in the morning.

Vince cringed; he had offended her. His hand hovered over her back, wishing he could say or do something to make up for being so stupid. A brightly colored phoenix was tattooed across flying diagonally across her back. Most of the beautiful bird's tail was hidden by her camisole but the very end was visible on the corner of her lower back farthest from him. It looked as though the bird's tail transformed from feathers to a music staff somewhere under her shirt. The colors were bright even in the moonlight. His fingers ached to touch it, to lift up her shirt and see what the middle section of the beautiful bird looked like.

She could feel the heat of his hand hovering over her back, and although she tried to ignore it, she couldn't push back the fire that spread through her body at the mere suggestion that he was going to touch her. Sighing, she turned her head so it was facing him. Her hair 

flopped in front of his eyes, hiding parts of his beautiful face from her view. His fingers reached out to her face, gently pushing her hair out of her face, his fingers brushing against her cheeks leaving her skin tingling in it wake.

He watched as her eyes slowly closed and her breathing grew heavier. Leaning forward, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I'm an idiot," he muttered to himself.

A smile spread across her face. "That's for sure," she murmured sleepily.

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Please Review!! Thanks so much!!

Always Love,

Love Ink


	11. Barney and Beltnotchers

I'm baaaack! After many internal debates about whether I wanted to finish this or not, I've decided, what the heck, might as well! So here are the next TWO chapters because I have been slacking so much! I'm sorry!!!! Thanks so much for staying with me! I love you guys! :)

~Love Ink

Disclaimers: I own nothing but the new characters that I love dearly and missed writing about!

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**Chp. 11: Barney and Belt-notchers**

by: Love Ink

Vince woke up to find himself in an unfamiliar bed, alone. His eyes found the clock, its bright red numbers telling him it was way too early for him to be awake. "Carly?" he called out, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and standing up slowly. Obnoxious cartoon sounds were blaring from the living room. He followed the noise and couldn't help the smile that crossed his face at what he saw.

Carly was lying curled up on the couch with Boone sitting contently in the empty space between her stomach and legs. A bowl of Lucky Charms was perched on his little lap. Vince watched as Boone grabbed a handful of the cereal, picked out the marshmallows for himself and handed the rest to Carly. Carly would dump the small amount of cereal in her hand into her mouth without thinking twice about it. Vince was sure Boone could've slipped a bug into her awaiting hand and she'd eat it without blinking. "I like Barney better, Cawly. Why you no like him?" Boone questioned, his bright eyes fixed on the screen.

"Well, Booney dear, I'm afraid of talking dinosaurs," she explained her face completely serious.

Boone seemed to think this was an honest answer. "Oooh. Is that why you won't watch _Land Before Time_ with me?"

Carly tried matching the movie title with the subject. A flash of little cute dinosaurs wandering around lost came to her mind. For some reason, she could remember crying hysterically when she saw it in her youth. "Yes. That's exactly why."

"Why are you guys up this early?" Vince asked, interrupting their conversation.

She glared at him, her green eyes fierce; what had happened last night had obviously not been forgotten. "If you got a problem with it, you should go back to sleep," she quipped sarcastically.

"Touché," he muttered under his breath before sitting himself down on the floor in front of the couch. "What are you watching?"

"Looney Toons because Cawly won't watch Barney because she's scared of talking dinosaurs," Boone answered. "Are you scared of talking dinosaurs, Ince?"

Vince chuckled while he shook his head. "Nah, I'm not scared of talking dinosaurs. I'm scared of _singing_ ones."

Carly scoffed and got off the couch to grab something to drink. Vince sighed and watched her leave. "Here, buddy, why don't you put on Barney while I go talk to your Aunt?"

"Yes!" Boone exclaimed, pumping one little fist into the air.

Vince headed over to the kitchen and waited for Carly to say something. He watched as she emptied the dishes from her dishwasher, trying her hardest not to look at him. "Look, CC, I'm sorry," he started out, unsure of where to go from that point. He had never been good at apologies and this was no different.

"For what?" she asked, her eyes focused on the utensil drawer as she chucked the utensils into their places with a vengeance. "It's not like you did anything wrong in rejecting me, right? It's not like we're together or anything. It's fine. Don't feel bad about it or anything. I mean, it was stupid of me to even think there was something going on between us because you're a racer and a mechanic and I can't tell one car from another and you're into all those bootylicious hoes from the races and that's okay. Its okay you're a manwhore, I guess. If it works for you, go ahead, be a man-whore. I'm just not a man-whore because, okay well I'm not a man first off and I'm not a whore and I don't want to be just another notch in your belt or anything so if you want to make your belt tighter go get someone else because I'm not a belt notcher."

Carly mentally slapped herself in the head from rambling, but she couldn't seem to stop herself. Then out of no where, his lips were on hers. She froze, her brain on pause at the feel of his lips on hers. It took awhile for her brain to kick back into gear and for her to kiss him back.

The warm feeling filled his stomach again, but Vince knew better than to pull away this time. He held on tightly to her curvy waist and pulled her closer to him, taking one hand from her hip and knotting it into her hair. She pulled away, breathless. "What was that for?"

"To shut you up," he said with a smirk. "You're not a notch in my belt, CC. You're much more than that. Plus, my belt is already tight enough, thanks."

Carly's mouth dropped open in shock. She hit him lightly before going back to the task at hand. "Manwhore," she muttered under her breath with a roll of her eyes.

Vince scowled at her, reaching out and pinching her nose to get her attention. She slapped his hand away and stuck her tongue out at him. He laughed, it seemed Carly picked up a lot from her nephew. "Does that mean you forgive me?"

"Yep," she said, a smile slowly spreading onto her face.

"Thanks." He kissed her cheek, his beard tickling the smooth skin there inciting a giggle from her. "What do you got for breakfast around here any way?"

"I can make you an amazing bowl of cereal. Grab one from the cupboard over there."

"Why do you have all these cereals?" he asked, opening the door of the cupboard she pointed out to find various brightly colored boxes of cereal. He grabbed the Capn' Crunch and poured some into the bowl.

Carly shrugged. "Miracle is on this health kick so I buy all the cereal she won't. Why do you think Boone is here so early?"

"You spoil them don't you? No wonder they like you so much!" Vince said with a laugh.

"I do not spoil them! It is perfectly all right to eat sugary cereal for breakfast if they are going to be spending the rest of the day with their parents and not me." Carly gave him an impish grin before grabbing the box of Golden Grams from the cupboard. "Plus, these cereals are good." There was a knock at the door and she went to answer it with a sigh.

Chris stood at the other side a fake scowl on his face. "I seem to have misplaced a child. Do you know where I can find him?"

She shrugged and glanced around her apartment. Boone had hidden himself behind the couch when he heard his father's voice. Vince was making faces at the boy trying to get him to laugh and ruin his hiding place. Carly hid a laugh of her own at how ridiculous the scruffy man looked sticking his tongue out at the toddler. "Boone's missing?" she exclaimed trying to sound as surprised as possible.

"I know he's in here," Chris said stepping around Carly and into the house. "Boone! Boone! Are you here?" A muffled "no" came from behind the sofa. "Hey Vince," he said nodding toward Vince. Vince gave him a nod back. Carly rolled her eyes, only men greeted each other like that. "Too bad he's gone because I was going to take the kids to Disneyland today, but since he's not here, I guess just me and Stella will go."

Boone jumped from his hiding spot and sprinted towards his dad. "I'm here! I'm here! I wanna go to Disneyland!"

"I thought so," Chris said with a chuckle as he scooped his son into his arms. "Let's get you changed out of your Pjs and we'll go."

"Otay! Bye Ince! Bye Aunty Cawly!"

Carly kissed Boone's cheek before standing on her tip-toes and kissing Chris's cheek as well. "Bye boys! Have fun and be good!"

"I should say the same to you," Chris said, jerking his head toward where Vince was eating. Carly made a face at him while she tried to close the door on him, he put his foot in the way to stop her. "Don't forget you're opening the shop in an hour, Car. Danger's coming today so be prepared."

She let out an annoyed sigh. "I know, Chris. We already talked about this!"

"Okay, just thought I'd remind you. I am your boss you know."

"Would you leave already?" she said with a laugh as she shut the door on him. "Living next to your boss sucks," she stated with a pout.

"It's not that bad. Its way easier to call in sick when your boss can physically see that you're sick," Vince said with a shrug as he poured himself another bowl of cereal.

"True that," she said with a slight nod. She had forgotten that Vince lived with his boss too. "I'm going to hop into the shower. Feel free to leave whenever you want," she added on, already halfway to the shower.

"And miss you getting out of the shower? Not a chance!" he teased.

Rolling her eyes, she started the shower and got in. The hot water eased her sore muscles as memories of the barbeque drifted through her head. She couldn't shake the way Vince looked at Mia out of her mind. He had said it wasn't a big deal, but she wondered if Mia was the reason he pulled away last night. Carly understood why Vince had such an affinity for the girl; Mia was the nicest person she had ever met and very beautiful. She grimaced when she felt her stomach tie itself in knots at the thought of Vince with Mia. This was going too far. She was in way over her head with this scruffy mechanic. Way, way over her head.

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Please review even if you're mad that I haven't updated in forever! Reviews are so encouraging! :)

Thanks for reading!! :D


	12. Danger and Shrimp

Two chapters in one day!! I felt like I owed it to the awesome people who are still reading this despite my lack of updates! :) You are all amazing! Thanks!

~Love Ink

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Carly :)

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**Chp. 12: Danger and Shrimp**

By: Love Ink

"Have fun last night?" Vince questioned; his voice loud in the almost empty garage.

Letty groaned as she slid out from beneath the car she had been discreetly dosing under. Rubbing her forehead she glared up at Vince. "We did until you decided to ruin it."

"What did you tell her about me?" he demanded, extending a hand to help her up.

She chuckled while she took his hand and let him pull her up. "Nothing too crazy," she answered with a shrug. A smug grin spread across her face. "Not that it would make a difference any way."

He narrowed his eyes at her in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"It means that Carly likes you so much, I doubt anything we say will change her opinion of you which is rare so don't mess it up," Letty warned, brandishing a wrench at him.

Letty watched in amazement as a genuine grin spread across Vince's face. "Really, Let?"

It had been years since she had seen that grin. She had forgotten how young it made him look. Grinning herself, she patted his arm. "Really, V. You should take her to the races tonight; introduce her to our world."

"I don't think she'd go. She's not a big car person; in fact, she doesn't know anything about them."

"Something tells me she'll go anyway," Letty said, dipping her head under the hood of the car to tighten a bolt.

Three hours later, on his lunch break, Vince headed toward the tattoo shop. He could see her through the window working on a back piece, her bottom lip caught between her teeth as she concentrated. A younger guy stood next to her, watching every move she made. She paused and looked up at him, her hand gesturing to the tattoo. The boy reached out and tugged on one of her braided pigtails before sticking his tongue out at her, obviously disagreeing with whatever she said. She gestured for him to come closer and he did, setting his chin on her shoulder as he did so. Their closeness bothered him as did the jealousy he felt brewing within him. Who was this guy and why did he have his hands all over her?

He entered the shop quietly, waiting for someone to take notice. Miracle grinned at him as she stood from her stool and sauntered over to the front desk. Her long blonde hair was down today and hung past her waist. "I was wondering when you were going to stop creeping at the window and come in," she said with a smirk.

"I wasn't…I…fine you caught me," Vince surrendered with a sigh. "What's going on, Mira?"

"That's Danger, he's Car's little brother and apprentice so don't get too green about it. I'm pretty sure both of them are against incest."

The thought that Miracle could read his mind briefly passed through his head as he rolled his eyes. "That wasn't what I asked."

She scoffed, one hand on her hip. "But you wanted to. You looked so green with jealousy creeping out there that I thought you were the Hulk."

"Hilarious, Mira. I had forgotten what a great sense of humor you have," he drawled sarcastically.

Vince caught the boy, Danger, looking at him quizzically. Only one of the boy's hazel eyes was visible, the other was covered by his black bangs. His black jeans were way too tight on him making his legs look really skinny; his purple and black striped v-neck shirt was equally as tight, a red pair of Converse Chucks were laced onto his feet which looked like clown feet. His dark layered hair was on the longer side, stopping a few inches below his ears. He flipped the hair out of his face with a quick movement of his head. "Are you paying attention you little snot?" Vince heard Carly ask without looking up. "I'm not going to let you tattoo if you're flipping your hair like a school girl every five seconds."

"Chill out, Carlina! I'm paying attention!" Danger said indignantly.

Vince chuckled as Carly reached out and pinched her brother's arm. "I told you not to call me that, Daniel!"

"Are you doing the tattoo or not?" the client asked, a smile on his face. It was clear he was enjoying the banter between the tattoo artist and her apprentice.

Carly giggled softly before going back to work. She still hadn't noticed he was there yet. Danger had however, and an impish grin spread across his face. "Hey sis, what's that guy you were telling me about look like?"

"He's tall with dark hair and gorgeous blue eyes," she answered without looking up from the tattoo.

"Is he buff? You know, like me?" he pushed, looking over Vince with a smirk.

She laughed and shook her head. "He's buff all right, but you're nowhere near as buff as he is."

Vince tried his best to fight the smile off his face. Danger gestured for him to come closer. "Sounds like a pretty scary guy. What's his voice sound like? Smooth and sleek or gruff and gritty?"

"Are you paying attention or playing twenty questions?" she asked, glaring up at Danger as she wiped down the finished tattoo.

Danger waited for the customer to leave and for her to start cleaning her station before he answered her. "Both," he answered simply. "Humor me. Does he say you're name like this, "Carly" or like this…" He gestured for Vince to fill in for him.

Vince nodded, standing right over her. "Carly."

Her heart skipped a beat. She knew that voice and the lovely way it sounded when it said her name. Turning in her chair she came face to face with Vince. Her breath caught in her throat as a wolfish smile spread across his face. "Vinny! What are you doing here?" Carly questioned her eyes bright with happiness as stood and wrapped her arms around him.

"I thought I'd come see if you wanted to grab some lunch," he said, reciprocating her hug.

Carly looked at the clock on the wall and grinned. "I think I could squeeze in a lunch break."

"What about me? I'm hungry too," Danger said, patting his flat stomach with a frown.

"D, you just ate! Plus, you have to clean up my station," she said gesturing to said place behind her.

Danger stuck his tongue out at her. "You suck a lot, Carlina. You know that? And what's with not introducing me to your friend? I think I have a right to know who this guy you talk so much about is."

"I am convinced you want to die today, Dange," she growled at him, feeling a blush creep into her cheeks. "Vince this is Danger, he's my little brother. Dange, this is Vince."

"Nice to finally put a face to the name," Danger said, extending a hand for Vince to shake. "You probably haven't heard about me because I got all the good looks in the family and she hates living in my shadow."

"Oh shut up," she shot back at him with a roll of her eyes. "Now go do your job or I'll call Uncle Nico and you'll be in trouble!"

"I swear slavery was outlawed," he muttered before turning to do his job.

Carly was about to say something back to that when Miracle started pushing her and Vince out the door. "Goodbye! Have fun! Leave Danger to me!" she said, standing between Carly and Danger as they made their way out the door.

Once in the car, Vince couldn't wipe the smile off his face. "I have gorgeous eyes, huh?"

A blush colored Carly's tan cheeks. She couldn't believe Danger had conned her into saying all that stuff in front of him. "I'm gonna kill that kid I swear. Sorry about that."

Vince chuckled before tugging on one of her pigtails teasingly. "Why are you sorry? Those were compliments! Do you have any other siblings?"

"None that I'm close with," Carly began explaining with a sad smile. Vince could tell by the look on her face the story to follow was not going to be a happy one. "I have one older brother, but he left right after my mom died. I haven't seen him since I was ten and Danger was five. With him gone, we fell into my Uncle's custody which was fine because we practically lived with him anyway since our Mom could never take care of us. Danger had never been into tattooing, but two years ago, he started dating my best friend's little sister, Angie, who happens to be studying art at UCLA next fall, and all of a sudden, tattooing wasn't so bad. My Uncle said he had to graduate from high school before he could start. So here he is, fresh out of high school, apprenticing with me because he was too big of a pain for my Uncle."

Vince laughed at the scowl on her face. "Please tell me his real name's not Danger."

Carly giggled and shook her head. "Oh no, his real name is Daniel. We call him Danger because he is the one person I know who has broken damn near every bone in his body at least once. He has no fear when it comes to dangerous things. One day my Uncle caught him trying to skateboard off our roof and told him his name should've been Danger and ever since then, it has been. Kind of like your Coyote nickname."

"I'm surprised you remember that."

"I definitely do," she said with a smile. "But I was told that I would not like to know the reason for it and after thinking about it, I've decided I don't want to know." He exhaled a breath, thanking God for Carly's decision. That was a long story that he did not want to get into. "I am curious about how the team got together, though."

Vince grinned, that was a much easier question to tackle than the first one. "Me and Dom met in third grade. He was the new kid who brought his cars to school, and I asked if I could play with him. We discovered we lived a block away from each other, so I spent a lot of time at his house which is where I came to know Mia. Letty lived across the street from the Toretto's and Mia befriended her early on so Let was always over at their place mooning over Dominic.

After Mr. Toretto died and Dom got sent to jail, I took care of the girls. While he was still in prison, I hired Leon and Jesse to work at the shop. They needed a place to stay, we had more than enough room, so I let them live in the house. Leon's the one who told us about the street races so we did a few of those to get some extra cash. When Dom came back a couple months ago, we started racing as a team."

He was so nonchalant about it, as though taking care of two teenage girls wasn't that big of a deal nor was giving two complete strangers a place to live. To her it made him seem somewhat heroic. "Wow. That couldn't have been easy."

"It worked out fine. They're my family, you know? They're all I got."

Carly wished her stomach would stop flip-flopping. The more he talked about his unconventional family, the more she longed to be a part of it; a part of his life. "I completely understand. That's why I moved here. Chris apprenticed for my Uncle for a year before he moved back to LA to be with Mira. A few months ago I got a call saying his shop was losing money with just two tattoo artists, so I came to help."

"So you've been here for a few months?" Vince suddenly wished he had gone to get his tattoo earlier so he could've spent more time with the beautiful girl in his passenger's seat. "Do you know a lot of people here?"

She shrugged before nodding. "I know a few. My best friend Alex is living down here while she finishes her residency at the hospital and Danger's girlfriend introduced me to all her friends. They're a lot younger though, so it's kind of weird. I've also had quite a few clients invite me out so I've been having some fun here and there."

"Were any of these clients of the male persuasion?"

His eyes met hers and she was surprised to see a glimmer of jealousy in their blueness. Did he really like her that much? "Some," Carly admitted truthfully. "Most of them were jerks though so I stopped accepting offers from guys."

"What about me?" Vince asked, pulling into the parking lot of a restaurant that overlooked the beach.

"You're different."

He was confused now. What made him so special? "How?"

"You asked about my life. Most guys I tattoo will talk about themselves incessantly; you didn't. I liked that," she answered with a smile. She got out of the car and followed him into the seafood restaurant. Sitting at a booth by the window, she looked out over the ocean while he ordered for her. The appetizer came quickly and she was happy to see the plate full of shrimp. "This is a cool place. Do you know the owner of this one too?"

Vince chuckled and shook his head. "Contrary to popular belief, I don't know everyone in the city of Los Angeles."

Carly laughed and threw a shrimp at his face. It hit his forehead with a smack causing her to laugh even harder. A look of surprise flooded his face. He took the shrimp he had covered in marinara sauce and tossed it at her. The shrimp landed on her chest and slid down the front of her pink and yellow tie-dyed beater. Vince tried his hardest not to laugh at the trail of marinara sauce starting at the base of her neck and disappearing under her shirt. "Want some help getting it out?" he asked letting out a laugh.

She glared at him as she lifted her shirt and hoped it would fall out by itself. It didn't. It had gotten stuck in her bra. Mortified, she reached down the front of her shirt and retrieved the offending sea creature. Vince could not stop laughing. "I hate you," she muttered sarcastically as she set the shrimp down on a napkin.

"Hey, you started it," he said through his laughter. It was hard to stay mad at him when his gruff laugh made butterflies flutter in her stomach. He grabbed a napkin and reached over to wipe the sauce off her chest. The heat of his touch almost seared Carly's skin and she could've sworn her heart had stopped beating. "Better?"

She realized she was supposed to answer, however, with all the dirty thoughts that were going through her mind, she couldn't find an answer that sounded somewhat intelligent. "Sure," she said, mentally smacking herself for how dumb the answer she chose was.

"Good. So, if you don't hate me too much, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the races with me tonight," he said around a bite of shrimp.

The suggestion caught her off guard. Chris had told her the races were a place where guys could show off their goods whether it be their flashy cars, their toned bodies, or their smoking hot girlfriends. Now, she wasn't a car and he was the one with the smoking hot body, did that make her the girlfriend? Did this mean they were official? Butterflies invaded her chest at the thought. Taking a deep breath to keep her voice steady, she nodded. "Sounds good to me," she said, hoping she sounded cool and collected rather than crazy nervous.

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I hope you liked this chapter!! Please review!!! it makes me update faster ;)

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	13. Fashionistas and Dudes

Thanks so much for sticking with me despite the fact that I am terrible at updating!! You guys are the best and I really appreciate all your reviews!! :)

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but Carly and Danger :)

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**Between Inked Lines**

Chapter 13: Fashionistas and Dudes

_By: LoveInk_

Carly opened drawer after drawer looking for something to wear. Frustrated, she sat down on her bed with a sigh and looked the mess of clothes that surrounded her. Danger chuckled at her from the doorway where he was leaning against the doorjamb. She glared at him before lying back on her bed. "Your new roommate is all settled in," he announced, walking in and sitting down on the bed next to her. "Thanks for letting me crash here, sis. I really thought Angie would let me chill at her place."

Her brother had wanted to move in with his girlfriend of two years, Angie, but she was living with her sister, Alex, Carly's best friend. They lived in a tiny condo by the ocean with just two rooms and more stuff than was necessary. Carly had asked why they bought such a tiny place but when Alex showed her the view, she understood. They were right on the beach. "I told you she'd say no. Alex and Angie barely have room for each other in that condo, much less you. Plus, you're my baby brother; I've lived with you for eighteen long years. A couple more isn't going to be a problem. What _is_ a problem, however, is my lack of wardrobe," she announced, waving her hand toward the piles of clothes strewn on the floor.

Danger laughed as his hazel eyes scanned the room around him. "There has to be something here," he said, getting up and heading toward her closet. Sliding open the mirrored doors, he grinned when his eyes fell on a strappy gold top. "What about this?" He held it up to his chest. "Look at me, I'm sexy!" he exclaimed in a girl voice.

"It suits you, D," Carly said between giggles.

"I know, right? But as good as it looks on me; I bet it'd look better on you. Wear it," he decided, throwing it to her so it landed on top of her head.

She lifted it off of her face and held it up. "Dange, it's backless. I'll look like a tramp!"

"So? It's not like its cold outside or anything. _And_ you have an awesome back piece to show off. Why not slut it up?" Carly laughed at his suggestion. Normal brothers would suggest a turtleneck or a pilgrim-style frock for their sister to wear. Not Danger. Although fiercely protective over his older sister, Danger didn't mind her wearing revealing clothes because he knew she was smart enough to make good choices. At least, that's what he said. He picked up a dark pair of skinny jeans from the floor and once again, tossed it onto her face. "These look clean; wear 'em."

Tossing them onto the bed next to her, Carly flipped onto her stomach and raised an eyebrow at Danger. "You're a closet fashionista," she accused with a grin.

"Do you want my help or not?" he asked giving her a glare. "I know what you should wear because I know what I like to see my own girlfriend wearing, thank you very much. Now do you have any of those strappy heels?"

Carly stood and pushed past him to pick up a pair of gold heels off of the closet floor. She showed them to him and he nodded his approval. She threw her arms around him and kissed his cheek. "What would I do without you, Dange?"

"I often ask myself the same question," he said hugging her tightly. "So what's with you and Scruffy?" A huge smile spread across her face at the mere mention of the guy. "That's all the answer I needed." Danger laughed and ruffled her hair. "You got it bad."

She rolled her eyes at him before heading to the bathroom to get dressed. "I do not."

"Oh please. I know that smile. I haven't seen that smile since you were dating that asshole back in Miami. What was his name? Renee?"

"Rio," Carly corrected from behind the closed door. "And he wasn't that bad."

Danger frowned and shook his head at his sister. He didn't understand how someone who was so confident about her tattooing could be so unconfident about herself. "He _cheated_ on you, Car."

"I was always busy at the shop, Dange. He got lonely," she answered as she opened the door. She knew Danger was rolling his eyes at her response. He hadn't approved of Rio from the beginning and he didn't make his dislike a secret either. It seemed Danger liked Vince, though, and she was thankful for that; Danger could be a real pain when he didn't like her boyfriends. "There. How do I look?"

"You're an Estrada, you always look good. It's in your genes. I should know," he said as though she had just asked the dumbest question in the world. "Where are you going any way?"

Carly looked at his reflection in her mirror as she did her hair. "The street races."

"Really?" he said a shocked expression on his face. "What are you gonna do there?"

"The hell if I know," she answered with a grimace. "Watch cars go fast? Feel completely out of place? Pick one."

Danger ran a hand through his hair while he let out a loud laugh. "If you felt _in_ place there, I'd be worried." At Carly's worried look, he quickly added, "You'll be fine, though. You always are. People just naturally like you for some weird reason."

She threw the eye shadow compact in her hand at him for his comment. She laughed at the surprised expression on his face when it hit him square in the forehead. Rubbing his forehead, Danger left to left her on her own to finish getting ready. An hour later, the doorbell rang. "Shit! Danger, please get it!" she called out to her little brother.

"Yes, ma'am, your faithful servant will get it," he yelled back at her sarcastically. He strolled to the door and opened it to reveal Vince dressed in the same manner he had seen him in before except the scruffy man's hair was wet indicating that he had taken a shower recently. Danger grinned, happy to see Vince cared enough to take a shower for Carly. "Sup, dude?" he said, giving Vince a nod.

Vince raised an eyebrow at the kid's easy words. The greeting made it sound like Danger had known him for years rather than hours. He nodded his greeting to him before asking where Carly was.

"I don't know, man. She said something about street races and went running out of here. Sorry, she _is_ crazy after all," he answered, dead serious. After a beat, he raised an eyebrow. "You _sure_ you want to go out with her?"

Vince nodded solemnly. He wondered briefly if Danger was testing him. "Shut up, Danger!" Carly yelled from her room. "I'll be right there, Vinny! Ignore the asshole!"

Danger gave him an impish grin and shrugged. "C'mon in." Vince followed him inside and watched as he sat down at the table. "Nice tat. Did Carly do that?"

Vince noticed he was looking at the dragon. "Yeah."

"Cool. She's pretty good with the needle. Nowhere near as good as my Uncle, but she's getting there. Pretty soon I'll be there too."

"Good luck, kid."

He smirked and nodded to him. "I could say the same to you."

Vince was about to ask him what he meant when Carly appeared. He clenched his jaw in an effort to keep it from falling to the floor. She looked gorgeous in the low necked, shiny gold top. The way he was looking at her made a blush rise to her cheeks. "Hi," she said with a shy smile.

"Hey. Ready to go, beautiful?" he asked holding out an arm for her to hold. Danger made gagging sounds in the background.

Carly stuck her tongue out at him before linking her arm around Vince's. "See you later, Dange. Don't hurt yourself!"

"Right back at ya," he called after them with a wink.

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Thanks so much for reading and _please_ review! They make me happy!! :)

~LoveInk


	14. Winning and Phoenixes

New chapter!! Thanks so much for all your reviews!! They make me so happy and when I'm happy, I tend to write more!! :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Carly

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**Between Inked Lines**

_Chapter 14: Winning and Phoenixes_

_By: Love Ink_

Carly _did_ feel out of place as she followed Vince into the crowds of scantily clad, beautiful girls and brawny boys. The only thing keeping her from bolting was Vince's hand holding hers. As they walked toward where the rest of the team was standing, she noticed multiple girls glaring at her. Glancing at her attire, she figured it wasn't the outfit she was wearing that was earning her the glares; she was wearing more clothes than most of the girls there. Her guess was that it was Vince. "You've got quite the fan club, Vinny," she said, poking his side with a grin.

Vince took a quick look at the girls she was gesturing to. They were the typical race whores who spent their entire night trying to get him in bed in an attempt to get closer to Dom. "They're after Dom, not me."

"I beg to differ. They look like they're going to attack me in a few minutes," she said giving his hand a squeeze.

Almost as if to illustrate her point, one brave girl ventured in front of them. Placing one hand on Vince's broad chest, she batted her eyes and giggled. "Oh Vince, you have to take me to the after party! We'll have so much fun just like last time!"

Carly felt her heart sink in her chest. Last time? There was a last time? This was what she had to live up to? This beautiful, blonde, barely dressed woman? She was screwed. Vince stiffened at her side and plucked the girl's manicured hand off his chest. "Who are you again?"

"It's me, baby, Trixie. You've got to remember me!"

Vince shook his head slowly as he dropped Carly's hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Doesn't ring a bell," he said walking past Trixie whose mouth was hanging open in shock.

"Manwhore," Carly mumbled under her breath, loud enough for Vince to hear.

He squeezed her shoulder playfully and scowled. "Who? Me? Nah, I swear I don't know who that slut is. She's probably one of Leon's."

"One of my what?" Leon asked, catching the last bit of the sentence.

Vince nodded his head toward where the blonde girl was pouting with her friends. "Trixie?"

Leon remembered seeing Vince take the blonde to his room a few weeks before but decided not to say anything about it. Carly was good for Vince, and he didn't want to be the one responsible for messing up their relationship. He shrugged it off and grinned at Carly. "Hey you," he addressed Carly, pulling her into a hug. "How you likin' the races?"

Carly gave him a small smile. "I'm not sure yet. So far all I've seen is some amazing cars and girls who look like they're about to bite my head off since I'm with this stud," she said, nodding her head toward Vince who grinned in response.

"They don't stop either," Letty said with a chuckle. "I mean, I've been with Dom for years, and they still go chasing after him. And these three fools don't help either! They're always bringing them home!"

Vince shot Letty a glare while Jesse and Leon laughed. "I can't help it if girls want me, Let," Leon stated with an arrogant shrug. "And this kid," he wrapped a brotherly arm around Jesse's shoulders and pulled him into a headlock. "This kid right here is a babe _magnet_!" He ruffled Jesse's hair a bit before releasing his hold on him.

"And this one?" Carly asked, looking up at Vince with a curious gleam in her eyes.

Leon opened his mouth to say something but was quickly cut off by Vince. "This one isn't interested in those girls," he said squeezing her side. "Not with you here, at least."

She smirked at him, laughter dancing in her green eyes. "Nice save."

"I thought so," he said, a cocky smile firmly in place on his face. "C'mon, I'll introduce you to some new people." He brought her over to where Dom and Hector were setting up the race.

"Carly!" Hector exclaimed at once pulling her away from Vince and into a tight hug. "Sup, girl? You told me you weren't into the races!"

Vince watched in confusion as a blush rose to Carly's cheeks. She ran a hand through her hair and shrugged. "I'm not really. Vince asked if I wanted to come."

"Oh, and you're interested in Vince," Hector teased, wagging his eyebrows.

Carly's blush deepened. Vince cleared his throat, breaking into the conversation. "You two know each other?"

"Yeah, man. Carly did some sweet tattoos on some of my crew and my sister a few months ago," Hector explained with a chuckle. Vince felt a stab of jealousy at the knowledge that Hector had known Carly longer than he had. "She refused to go to the races with us, but she's been to the club a few times. I guess all it took was the right man to get you to come, huh girl?"

"You could say that," she answered with a bright smile. "Is your sister around?" Hector pointed over to where the rest of his team was hanging out around his Civic. "I'm gonna go say 'hi.' I'll be right back, I promise," she said to Vince before making her way over to the Latino team.

Dom was intrigued by the physical change in Vince when Carly left his side. His shoulders tensed and it seemed as though Vince was unsure of what to do with his arm without having Carly to hold. He shoved his hand in his pocket while talking to Hector. Dom had to fight a laugh at the nervous glances Vince kept shooting at Carly every so often, as though he was trying to assure she was safe. She was perfectly safe, of course, but Dom knew what Vince was feeling. He'd often felt nervous like that when Letty was out of reach in a new place. Carly came back a few minutes later and Vince visibly relaxed. His hand came out of his pocket and grabbed her waist possessively. Dominic wondered how long their relationship would last before Vince did something stupid to chase her away like he had done so often in the past. He knew Jesse and Leon had a bet going about the time, but he had refused to bet on his best friend, no matter how tempting it was. He didn't want to jinx the old Coyote.

Carly watched as the cars lined up on the makeshift starting line a few girls had just painted on the blacktop. Perched between Vince's legs on the top of his Maxima, she could see Dom's red Mazda from the sideline and wondered if he would win. "Who do you think will win?"

Vince hadn't heard her. Her top was completely backless save for a few thin straps to keep it from falling off completely, exposing the whole phoenix tattoo stretching across her back. He couldn't take his eyes off of it. It was so strikingly beautiful and colorful. He felt her shiver underneath his touch as he traced the line of the phoenix's back. "Huh?" he asked, his fingers now tracing the bird's tail. Repeating her question, she was surprised to hear him laugh in response. "Dominic, of course."

Vince's fingers traced closer and closer to her hip, making whatever Carly was about to say fly out of her head. His calloused fingers felt so good against her skin. Swallowing hard, she managed to ask, "Why?"

He was surprised at how flustered she sounded. Was it the way he was touching her that made her sound like that, he wondered. He dug his thumb into her lower back, massaging it gently. "He always does," he answered, wondering what her reaction to his massage would be.

Her eyes fluttered closed; he had no idea what he was doing to her. She fought back a moan. "Oh," she barely managed to say. His hands slipped under her top, playing with the waist of her jeans. "Vince!" she hissed, abruptly moving his hands away. "There are hundreds of people staring at us!"

"So?" he asked, his face the picture of innocence. "I can't grope my girlfriend in public?"

Carly felt her heart sputter in her chest; had he just called her his girlfriend? She stood from her spot and turned so she was standing between his legs and facing him. "Girlfriend, huh?" she asked, a brilliant smile spreading across her face and lighting a fire in her green eyes.

The word had slipped out of his mouth before he had time to stop it and he was nervous it would send her running for the hills, but the smile on her face told him she wasn't going anywhere and he was happy that he'd let it slip. "If you'll take me," he murmured his eyes unsure.

She laughed and put her forehead against his so that their lips were just inches apart before claiming his lips with her own, her hands tangling themselves in his hair as his grabbed her hips and pulled her closer to him. She pulled away for a brief second to murmur, "Oh, I'll take you."

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Thanks again for reading!

If you liked it, let me know with a review and I'll post some more! :)

~Love Ink


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